The Chaotix - The World's Greatest Detectives!
by FrDougal9000
Summary: The Chaotix Detective Agency has always had to put up with all sorts of nonsense, ranging from helping kids find lost toys to rescuing Chao from trees, but then a stranger named Mighty the Armadillo joins up and decides to try make the Chaotix the greatest detectives Mobius has ever seen! Can the team of usually incompetent detectives really pull this off?
1. 01 The New Guy - 1 of 5

_June 23__rd__, 9:02 am_

_Emerald Coast Bus Station_

"_Those expecting a lovely sunny day as usual will be in for a heck of a shock this morning as the normally bright and clear Emerald Coast will be covered in clouds, buckets of rain and some light fog until the afternoon, at least. _

_We will keep updating you as the day goes by so if you're going out, keep an umbrella prepared just in case things don't turn out well weather-wise. This is Scarlet Garcia, reporting the weather for the Neutronic News Network, signing off."_

The radio playing on the speakers quickly changed back to playing the same elevator jazz it usually played in the early morning as buses came and went at the same pace they always did.

One of the buses that arrived dropped off several people who came to Emerald Coast to meet up with old friends and family, see the sights or to attend to personal business. One of these people was a black armadillo, just stepping off the bus.

He had a athletic physique, with some slightly noticeable muscles seen on his arms and stomach, was completely naked other than gloves and shoes (as expected with Mobian customs), he was carrying a satchel that contained some of his important belongings and his head and back were covered by a giant red shell suited specifically for his body.

While he considered his shell to be a pain given how heavy it was (at least forty kilos) and how easy it was for it to fall off at the worst of times, he was glad that it would keep most of his body relatively dry in the pouring rain so he wouldn't need any kind of umbrella like everyone else around him.

He looked around him and noticed quite a few re-unions between friends and family who hadn't seen each other in ages. They were giving each other big hugs, cheering in joy and one or two people were even crying because of how happy they were to see their loved ones again. _"Mom…dad…"_

The armadillo suddenly remembered he had something important to do and took out a poster from his satchel. He found the poster at the last bus station he was at and among all the other posters and ads seen on the wall, this particular one looked far more interesting than yet another special edition of Chao in Space being shoved into your face.

The poster showed mysterious black footsteps on a concrete floor along with an enormous magnifying glass inspecting some of the footsteps. Below was a tagline saying, "_Are you sure you want to know? - Chaotix Detective Agency" _along with a picture of the three members of the Chaotix, along with names under each of them.

Right in the middle was Vector, a giant green reptile with massive headphones around his neck (kinda, it's hard to tell when your neck blends right into your torso) and a huge cocky grin on his face while giving a thumbs up to whoever's reading the poster.

To his left was Charmy, a young bee who looked about 9 with a pilot's helmet on his head and hovering alongside Vector while giving the double peace sign along with a big smile of his face.

And finally, to the right was a purple chameleon named Espio. He was facing backwards with his arms folded and it was hard for the armadillo to tell if he was going for some fan service or if he wanted absolutely nothing to do with whatever was going on.

The armadillo decided to pay no mind to it and focused on the most important part of the poster; an address indicating where the Detective Agency was. After reading through it, he put the poster back into his satchel and set off to find the Detective Agency…even though he had absolutely no idea what directions to take.

_June 23__rd__, 11:25 pm_

_Onett Department Store, Mission Street, Emerald Coast_

Well, it had taken over two hours, tons of walking and asking at least fifty people for the directions (which was made even worse by the blasted fog) but the armadillo had finally reached the address mentioned on the poster. He was a little confused at first since he was expecting a big detective agency…not a department store.

In any case, he decided to go in and find out what was going on. The store didn't seem to be doing all that well since it was filled to the brim with incredibly tacky looking clothes, beds that looked as if they hadn't been used in ages and merchandise based on TV shows that had been off the air for years.

The armadillo started wondering if this really was where the Chaotix worked because it just seemed so…unfitting. Then again, the best detectives always tried to blend in and try not to be noticed so this place could possibly be a big disguise for an elite headquarters.

After wandering through the store for a few minutes, he saw what he thought was the store's manager and figured it'd be best to ask him about the Chaotix. The manager was what looked like a red squirrel/chipmunk thing who looked like he weighed a hundred-and-fifty pounds and was sitting at his desk reading a magazine, looking bored out of his mind.

He noticed the red-shelled stranger walking towards him and put the magazine away while putting his feet up on his desk.

"_What do ya want?"_ the squirrel guy asked.

"_I'm here to see the Chaotix," _the armadillo replied.

The squirrel started giving the armadillo a suspicious look and folded his arms, saying _"I'm sorry but if you're looking to sue somebody over that ladies' swimming pool thing last week, Vector's out to lunch at the moment."_

"_Wait, what? Do I look a lawyer to yo - er mind, I'm looking to join the Chaotix," _the armadillo said, handing the squirrel the poster from his satchel.

The squirrel looked over it for a few seconds before putting it on his desk. A few seconds passed before he finally said _"Well, I guess I owe Vector ten bucks. I bet 'im that no-one would actually notice it but I guess I was wrong for once. What's ya name, kid?"_

"_Name's Mighty. Mighty the Armadillo!" _the armadillo said, pointing towards himself. _"Traveller of Mobius, the strongest guy in town and all-round handsome guy-"_

"_I get it!" _the squirrel said, pushing a hand out towards Mighty. _"Yeesh, I've known you for five minutes and I already want to punch you in the face but hey - at least ya'll fit in just fine that bunch of 'detectives!'"_

Mighty didn't know if he should feel offended by the remark against him or the way the squirrel referred to the 'detectives' but he decided to ignore it for the moment and deal with what he came there for.

"_Anyways, my name's Ben, the owner of this dump and landlord for the Chaotix," _the squirrel suddenly said. "_However, you can't apply right now since they're out on a case at the moment. Sorry 'bout that."_

Mighty looked discouraged and just thought _"Crap." _He turned around and started walking off, saying _"Well, I guess I'll be on my way then. Thanks for the help, anyways."_

"_Wait!"_ Ben said out of the blue, ushering Mighty to come back for a second. Ben then told him _"I don't know where they've gone but I do know that they usually hang out at this coffee joint near the seaside named…okay, I can't remember but if you go there, you might be able to ask about where they are. It might not help but it's better than nothing."_

"_Thanks! I'll go right now and look for them. See ya 'round!"_ Mighty said as he ran to the door. "_Hold it!" _Ben yelled, but Mighty already ran out of the building by that point. _"…don't ya need to know the directions - ah, screw it!" _he said before going back to his magazine.

**To be continued...**

_Message from the Author - 17/Dec/2012:_

_(Hello there, I hope you enjoyed my first piece of Sonic fan-fiction...or at least the first one that I bothered to upload to the internet. I know it's pretty short but believe me, things always seem much, much bigger in MS Word so hopefully the next chapter will be longer. That or I'll just fuse the next chapter with this one at some point and just change things around to suit it._

_In any case, tell me what you think of it so far and please tell me if there are any improvements that can be made. It's slow at this point but don't worry; things will be picking up pretty soon and a couple of new characters will be introduced, including an old bounty hunter and a certain fighter, if you catch my drift..._

_See ya next time y'all! -FrDougal9000)_


	2. 01 The New Guy - 2 of 5

_June 23__rd__, 11:45 am_

_Some street in Emerald Coast_

"_This is a great start…I'm trying to sign up for a detective agency and I can't even find my way to a damn coffee shop. Some great detective I'm turning out to be."_

Mighty had been wandering through the rain-soaked streets of Emerald Coast for nearly a half-hour with no clue as to where to go. He would ask the first person he'd find for directions but the rain was really pouring down hard by that point so pretty much everyone was staying inside, with no indication that anyone would be coming out.

He wanted to sit down for just a few minutes and take his mind off matters for a while, especially since he'd been walking non-stop since he got off the bus, which was nearly three hours ago by that point. However, he couldn't see any nearby benches and the fog surrounding him wasn't helping either.

Mighty left off an annoyed groan and continued walking down whatever street he was on at the moment, part of him wondering if he was really cut out to be a detective. But he really didn't have a choice; being a 'traveller of Mobius' usually left him strapped for cash and he'd spent the last of his money getting the bus here.

"_Unbelievable! I'm stuck in a town with no money, no idea of where I'm going and to top it all off, it's raining. What other joys shall be brought upon me today, I wonder?!"_

His inner whinging was suddenly interrupted when someone bumped into him, toppling him over. He was startled for a few seconds before he noticed the person who'd fallen on him. A yellow cat, wearing a long trench-coat, with black hair and enormous pigtails (think Klonoa if you're stuck on imagining that) but more importantly, a g-g-g-GIRL!

As soon as he realized what gender the cat was, he instantly got up looking as red as a tomato just dug up from the ground. He was so distracted by what just happened that he didn't bother trying to help the cat up, who'd gotten up her on her own and looked pretty angry at him.

"_**YOU JERK!**__" _she yelled as she whacked Mighty on the head. "_I was trying to escape from this nutball who was trying to mug me and then you appear right the hell outta nowhere and knocked me down!"_

"_Wait a minute. I didn't knock you down."_ Mighty said, looking a little confused about things. _"And was it you just said about being mug-"_

"_Who cares about that?!"_ the cat screamed out like an opera singer. _"The problem is that idiot has probably caught..up..with…me…by…n.."_ The cat slowly turned around and her eyes widened as she noticed a man that had been standing in front of her and Mighty for quite some time. He was a grey cat wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans and was brandishing a small pistol, clearly for the intention of mugging people.

"_Aah…perfect." _The mugger said._ "I was gonna chase this chick around and steal whatever she had but now that you're here,"_ he said as he pointed his pistol toward Mighty, _"I can kill two birds with one stone and make off with more money than before."_

Mighty stepped in front of the cat, stretching his arms out, and told the mugger _"First of all, you're not going to get anything from mugging me; in fact, you probably have more money right now than I do. But more importantly, you're not robbing her," _saying that as he looked toward the cat, _"and you're not robbing anyone else for that matter." _As he finished talking, his eyes partially closed up, leaving only an angry stare directed at the mugger.

The mugger just looked at Mighty in utter confusion before hysterically laughing, which went on for about a minute and did a good job freaking out the cat while Mighty stayed in place, not moving an inch. Finally, the mugger stopped laughing, caught his breath and pointed his gun at Mighty, saying _"Seriously, dude? I'm the one with the freaking gun here and you're thinking you can take me down without any kinda weapon. Sorry to spoil your fun, but that's not how the game ends…"_

The mugger loaded his pistol and, with a dark grin on his face and his eyes closed, fired a bullet toward Mighty. At that moment, the cat screamed in sheer terror, catching Mighty off guard as he turned around on instinct, leaving him facing the mugger backwards. The bullet flew towards the red shell on Mighty's back and Mighty only realised what he just done the instant the bullet hit.

Even though the cat clearly heard the bullet hit something, she was confused that Mighty was still facing her, not giving off any kind of reaction. Normally, when most people are shot, they would usually be screaming in pain or fall down but Mighty didn't move. In fact, it was like the bullet didn't hit him at all…

"_What the heck?!"_ the mugger yelled out. _"That bullet was aimed right for your head! That should killed you!" _He took aim again, as he said _"Why aren't you dead?!" _He kept his eyes open this time and fired at Mighty again. The bullet flew at the same intensity as before and hit Mighty's shell before it ricocheted off the shell and flew into a nearby wall.

Mighty finally turned around, with a little smirk on his muzzle, and told the mugger _"I should've told you that my shell, as well as keeping me dry for the most part, is also super-strong and can make even the worst of attacks feel like a fly just bit me!"_

The mugger, surprised by what he'd just seen, dropped his gun and his jaw as he slowly staggered away from Mighty, who was cracking his knuckles and saying _"Now, let me show you how the game really ends, my friend." _As his smirk turned into a cocky smile, he took off for the mugger and before the mugger could even figure out what to do next, Mighty punched him straight in the stomach, which cleared out all the air in the mugger's lungs, leaving him breathless.

The mugger staggered forward, with his hands clutching his stomach for a few seconds, before he suddenly fell on the ground, unconscious. The cat, finally regaining some of her composure, walked towards the body wondering if he was dead.

"_Don't worry about it," _Mighty told her, with his arms folded is a very badass manner. _"He'll be okay…or so I hope. It's just I really don't know my own strength; I get into this kinda zone where it's me or them and I can't control myself at that point."_

The cat turned to him and smiled for the first time since she ran into him earlier, telling him _"Well, even though you've basically put the guy in a coma for a week, thanks for saving me anyways. Name's Honey. Honey the Cat…yeah, my parents were pretty lazy on the whole surname front."_

She put her hand out to shake Mighty's but Mighty was standing there, sniggering to himself, which clearly annoyed the cat, who yelled _"What's so funny?!"_ to which Mighty replied _"What kind of a name is Honey? I mean, that's a food right? In that case, I may as well be called Chicken Curry the ArmadillOW!"_

Honey had pulled at one of his ear/antler things as payback before asking him _"Well, if that's the case, then what's your name, O Grand Naming Sage of Mobius?!" _Mighty briefly thought about the whole Grand Sage of Mobius thing (to be fair, it did sound pretty awesome) before telling her his actual name.

She stared at him for a couple of seconds before she told him _"And you're the one laughing at my name. That makes sense."_ and promptly walked away. Mighty, feeling a bit mocked, ran up to her and began walking alongside her, asking _"And what's that supposed to mean?"_

"_Calm down, Chicky, it's just a joke. Get over it!" _Honey told him before he very quickly asked _"And what's with the 'Chickie' name?!"_ to which Honey replied _"Well, you said you may as well be called Chicken Curry the Armadillo so from now on, I'm calling you Chicky. And another thing, it's spelt 'Chicky', not 'Chickie'. Big difference."_

Mighty just gave her a wide-eyed stare, thinking that he should ask the difference but figured that there were better things to fill up the page with so he kept his mouth shut for the time being. _"Anyways,"_ Honey said. _"I've never seen you around here before so tell me stranger, what're you here for?"_

"_Well, I'm here to join a detective agency but I was told that I could find them at this nearby coffee shop, which I've been trying to find for the last half-hour and it's utterly impossible!"_ Mighty replied back, as he put his arms around his head, Naruto-style. _"Wait a minute," _Honey said after a few seconds. _"If you're new to this town, why didn't you just get into a taxi and ask to be driven around to all the coffee shops in town? I mean, wouldn't that be just a thousand times easier than wandering around in the cold rain for ages?"_

Mighty had thought about getting a taxi earlier but firstly, he had not money so he would've been kicked out on the spot and secondly, he was worried that he would've ended up driven around town by that crazy B.D. Joe guy he'd heard about on a few occasions and would probably have gotten a heart attack from the resulting madness.

However, he thought that'd be a terrible excuse to tell Honey so he took a few seconds to come up with a reason based from his nerdom, which was _"Well, I'm trying to become a good detective and the best way to become a good detective is to follow in the footsteps of the greats. I mean, do you know many great detectives never bothered to drive: Holmes, Gumshoe, Conan, Kaneda,-"_

"_Hold on a minute,"_ Honey suddenly interrupting Mighty's over-blown excuse. _"Wasn't Kaneda a street punk who constantly drove everywhere on a big, damn motorbike?" _Mighty quickly noticed the issue and told her _"Wrong guy; the Kaneda I'm on about is a ten-year-old master detective who pilots a giant mecha."_

"_Of course,"_ Honey said in the most dead-pan way possible. _"Why would you need a car when you're not old enough to drive one and can control a giant frigging robot?! Still, I think you're just being lazy about finding the coffee shop and if you can't bother to use the best way possible, I'm not sure you're cut out for being a detective."_

That remark cut into Mighty pretty deep, as he started slowing down, and his usual smile turned into a small frown. He scratched his head nervously and asked Honey _"Do you really think I'm not cut out to work for the Chaotix? 'Cause, if that's the ca-"_

"_Wait, did you just say Chaotix?!"_ Honey said, grabbing Mighty and pulling him in to her, which made him go a little bit red. _"Those guys go to where I work everyday! Why didn't ya say sooner?!", _she said before grabbing Mighty by his arm and pulling it as she started walking faster.

Mighty was struggling to keep up with Honey's tugging arm of doom and asked _"Wait a minute, Honey…where are we going?!"_ to which she said _"Where else, Chicky? To the coffee shop to find the Chaotix! So you can join up and try be a good detective!"_

"_Wait a sec, didn't you just tell me that I may not be cut out for a detective agency?!" _Mighty asked, understandably confused about what just happened. Honey didn't say anything and just kept dragging him along the sidewalk, even though she was getting wet from the rain, until they finally, finally reached the coffee shop where she worked.

**To be continued…**

_Message from the author - 18/Dec/2012:_

_(Hey there guys, I'm back with my second chapter and hopefully, you'll enjoy this one just as much or even more than the last one. Just a few fun things I'd like to mention about certain things in this chapter._

_Originally, the mugging that happened in this chapter wasn't going to happen but I realized I needed some kind of foreshadow for a certain action later on so that action wouldn't come off as a big ass-pull._

_There are also a few other things you may notice near the end of the chapter but I want to keep the reasons behind that a secret for a while so please, please don't ask about it._

_Aside from that, I've got nothing else to say except a brief shout-out to Lordoftheghostking28 for getting the EarthBound reference in the first chapter - you'll know it when you see it!_

_Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy whatever else I come up with. Have a great day, y'all! -FrDougal9000)_


	3. 01 The New Guy - 3 of 5

_June 23__rd__, 12:15 pm_

_Selbina Street, Emerald Coast_

The rain was pouring down hard on the streets of Emerald Coast that afternoon with cars getting pounded by a thousand raindrops per second and massive puddles being formed on the sides of some roads but in particular, quite a bit of water was dripping of a neon sign above what looked like a cross between a café and a 1950's diner. And at that moment, a yellow cat in a trench coat dragging a naked black armadillo by the arm arrived at the door of the coffee shop.

Mighty took a look up at the neon sign above the coffee shop, which said in big purple and blue letters "Sparkling Emerald". _"Really, that's the best name you could come with?"_ Mighty asked, rather exasperatedly, although that could just be from getting his arm dragged for the last 2 blocks. Honey replied _"I wasn't the one who came up with the name, that would be my dad. And the other name involved a pun so terrible that I can't really mention it in case someone bashes their head into the wall until they start bleeding…again," _as she opened the door and let Mighty and herself in.

The Sparkling Emerald, despite its gaudy-looking sign, gave off a really homely feel; customers were happily talking to each other at the counter and at their own tables, the floor was coloured in a very cheerful blue and white checkerboard pattern, the rain actually provided a nice backdrop instead of just getting everyone wet and there was even some nice instrumental jazz playing in the background.

As Mighty and Honey walked over to the counter, Mighty asked _"So it was your dad that set up this place? I'll have to give him credit; it looks like a very nice place. Oh, and I frigging love his choice of tunes,"_ as he started tapping his feet to the tune playing in the background. _"Yeah, my dad set up the Sparkling Emerald about ten years ago, back when I was just a little girl," _Honey replied as she got behind the counter and took her trench coat off, revealing a red vest and black pants.

Mighty took a couple of tissues from the counter on the off-chance his nose would start bleeding. Honey continued talking _"He'd always thought about setting up a place where people could eat, chat, listen to jazz…just some place where people could be happy…"_ before sighing wearily. She clearly looked like something was wrong and Mighty felt he should ask.

"_Hey. Is something up?"_ he said as he sat down at the counter and went close to Honey, who said _"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. Honestly!"_ rather sadly before tilting her head down. Mighty wasn't buying it and told her _"C'mon, I may be bad at taking directions but even I can 'detect' that something's wrong with you. Get it?! 'Detect' 'cause I'm a detec - Well, I've already ruined it. Look, is it something to do with your dad?" _

Honey looked up and realized that he genuinely wanted to help her in any way possible. So she finally decided to talk and started off by telling him _"It's just…my dad got in a car accident last week." _Mighty raised his head back shocked and told her _"I…I'm so sorry. I had not idea that your dad was actually d-" _but Honey interrupted him, saying _"No, dad isn't dead, he's fine. It's just that I'm worried about him, you know. I mean, he's been through worse but the older he gets, the easier it is for him to get hurt. It's been bad enough since mom…left a few years ago," _saying that as she clutched her left arm with her right hand before continuing _"but I just don't want to lose dad to. I…I just don't wanna be alone. You know?"_

Honey stopped talking and wondered why she was telling all of this to someone she hadn't even known for an hour. Her friends had asked her before, her more concerned customers kept inquiring about things but she had told none of them, yet she was freely blabbing about how she felt to a stranger. Why? And why did she even drag him over to the Sparkling Emerald when she told him not 10 seconds before that he may not be a good detective? All this kept roaming around in her head and she didn't have an clue as to why she was acting this way.

She was genuinely confused and even kinda scared, not just about her dad but this stranger sitting in front of her, and Mighty could see that so he told her _"I'm sorry if I crossed some kind of line here but don't worry. Things will get better; I don't know when but they will. Just keep your head up and everything'll be alright," _although, he started blushing about halfway through out of embarrassment. Honey didn't do anything for what felt like an eternity but then, she finally smiled and simply told Mighty _"Thanks." _She didn't really know what else to say but she was glad that someone was trying to help, even if only a little.

Mighty decided that he should try enquiring about the Chaotix by this point and so, he started by asking Honey _"So, you told me the Chaotix usually come here, right? Well, if that's the case, how do you know if they've been here? I mean, you weren't working this morning…right?"_ Honey put on a small apron around her pants and replied _"Well, this is the only place in town where a full course meal is about five Mobucks so of course the Chaotix ought to have come here at some point this morning. And you're right, this is my first shift so the best thing to do is just ask around and hopefully you'll find them. So good luck!" _

"_Wait a minute," _Mighty asked, sounding pretty surprised. _"You're not helping look for them? You're the only person I know here who can help me find the Chaotix!"_ Honey got out of the counter and walking toward one of the tables, telling him _"I know, but I've got a job to do and I'm as much in the dark as you about things so I wouldn't be much help…sorry."_ Mighty gave Honey a disappointed, begging look on his face and even though she couldn't help, she did have another idea. She told him _"How 'bout this? If you need a favor, about anything, I'll do it for you. I mean, you did save me this morning and everything…plus you are kinda cute. Anyway, I hope that helps but I gotta work now so…see ya later." _before going over to one of the tables to take the customers' orders.

While disappointed that he wouldn't be getting Honey's help when it came to finding out who to talk to about the Chaotix, Mighty decided to keep his head up and asked as many people as he could about the Chaotix. Some people had absolutely no idea as to who he was on about, others groaned at the mere mention of their name, clearly clients that the Chaotix failed at some point in the past, and even a few people just got up silently and left.

Going up to another table, Mighty asked the young couple _"Excuse me, have either of you two a trio of detective called the Chaotix? One's a purple chameleon, there's this small bee and this giant…alligator, I think?"_

"_Pssh, heck no!"_ said one of the two sitting at the table; a tabby cat with some scruffy hair and a blue jumper. As he put his feet on the table and put his arms behind his head, the cat said _"I haven't seen those losers all morning and hopefully you won't either; this one time, they tried getting my pet Chao out of a tree and ended up setting fire to my house. Seriously, those guys fail pretty hard…though not as hard as your MOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!"_

Mighty just stood there with his eyes bugged out in plain confusion and disgust at what the cat just said but just then, the other customer at the table, a pink cat with longish, also scruffy hair, stepped in saying _"I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse my friend here. He's a bit of an idiot" _as she glared angrily at the tabby cat. Then suddenly she said_ "And speaking of idiots, hey narrator, why did you just call us a couple?!"_

Wait, hold on what's going on here?!

"_Just a few paragraphs ago, you called me and this dumbass," _she said as she was pointing at the tabby cat, who had a cocky smile on his muzzle _"a freaking couple?! We're not even thinking about it; let alone dating! Why would you do that?!"_

Because it was easier calling you two the couple than saying 'the two cats at random table no.9' or something like that. Besides, how the hell are you even able to talk to m-

"_Don't change the subject, bucko! There's enough trouble as it is with people thinking we're dating but when even the damn narrator is pairing us, something HAS GONE HORRIBLE WRONG!" _she screamed out as everyone else was staring at her and her debate with…me. _"Screw it!"_ she yelled. _"I'm outta here!"_ as she and the tabby cat got up and walked away, mumbling something along the lines of _"I'm never doing a stupid cameo in this fanfic ever again!"_

Mighty stood there, staring at the now empty table, trying to comprehend what the hell just happened when a strange brown weasel in a jumpsuit came from behind him to clean up the table, taking Mighty by surprise. _"Aaagh! What the hell was that all about?!"_ he shouted at the janitor, who replied _"Well, that's my job: I clean up empty tables and try move the plot along as best as I can, bud! By the way, my name's Gordy…not that anyone cares." _as he picked up the plates from the table and put them on a cart he was taking around the coffee shop. _"Anyway," _Gordy said. _"I saw you trying to look for the Chaotix and I thought I'd help with that." _Mighty's eyes lit up at the chance to find out where the Chaotix went and asked in the most subtle of ways _"You can?! Tell me where the Chaotix are! Please, please, please, please, PLEASE!" _as he knelt down, tugging on Gordy's jumpsuit. Gordy looked down and told him _"They were here this morning but they already left to go on this big case they had." _Mighty stopped tugging and got up slowly, feeling let down again and without any kind of lead…again.

"_Hey kid, calm down, I ain't finished yet!" _Gordy said, as he sat down on the table next to him. Mighty tilted his head upwards, looking at Gordy, who said _"Well, what're staring at me for? Pull up a chair and I'll tell you about what happened this morning." _So Mighty sat down in front of Gordy, who took out a can of cola to drink as he started to tell his story.

"_It was early this morning; it was still raining, although it wasn't as bad as it was now but anyways, the main guy Vector was boasting that this case was the thing that was gonna catapult them into fame…"_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 21/Dec/2012_

_(And that's another chapter finished. Sorry about the delay, it's just I've been a bit lazy over the last few days so hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to make._

_You may also notice that I'm extending this episode by another chapter, mainly because I felt this was a bit too long with the flashback originally featured in this chapter (the flashback will form part of the next chapter)._

_As well as that, I've popped in a couple of extra cameos and shout-outs more bizarre than before and hopefully, some of you will get them._

_In any case, that's all I have to say for today. As usual, tell me what you think and what improvements I can make in future and I'll see y'all next time! -FrDougal9000)_


	4. 01 The New Guy - 4 of 5

_June 23__rd__, 9:15am (A few hours ago)_

_Sparkling Emerald, Selbina Street_

"_This case is gonna be da thing that launches us straight into da headlights!__"_yelled out a large green reptile with headphones around whatever part of his torso his neck was supposed to be. Sitting at a table next to him were a purple chameleon with a small horn protruding out of his head, wearing nothing but tattered old gloves and shoes, as well as a wrecked blue scarf for rainy or cold days, reading what appeared to be manga and a young bee wearing a pilot's helmet and an orange safety jacket, who was gleefully chomping down a handful of sausages and ice-cream.

The chameleon putting his book and looked towards the green reptile, asking him "_What case are you on about now, Vector? And didn't you say that case last week would make us famous__…__you know? The one at the ladies__'__ swimming po-__"_ before being interrupted by the reptile known as Vector, who yelled _"__For the last time, I was not the guy who was going around groping women! The culprit just happened to look very much like me__…"_

"_As were the other 'culprits' that sneaked into the dressing room and stole Vanilla's panties or any other kind of nonsense __…__lord, I__'__ve never been so embarrassed in my whole life.__"_the chameleon said as he face palmed himself, while Vector replied _"__Oh you say that all the time, Espio, so much that it doesn__'__t really mean anything any more. Anyways, the case I__'__m talking about is this!__"_ Vector said as he gave Espio a poster ripped off from the street.

The poster contained a picture of a golden Chao, with a caption below saying '_Have you seen this Chao? If so, contact this number: 09171965 or visit this address: 91 Hill Top Lane.__'_So far, Espio wasn't seeing the big deal about this poster; it was just another lost Chao ad, nothing he hadn't seen before and the golden colour of the Chao could very well be a Photoshop effect made so more people would go out looking for it. However, he decided to humor Vector and read the last few lines, which were _'__Whoever finds and returns this Chao will be given a reward of 10,000 Mobucks!__'_

Espio gave the poster back to Vector and returned to his manga, reading silently for a few seconds before something in his head clicked and he grabbed the poster from Vector's hands, saying _"__Wait a minute! Let me see that again!__"_He read through it again and his jaw dropped at the idea of someone being thick enough to give anyone 10,000 Mobucks, just for bringing back some Chao.

His mind raced in pure excitement at the thought of what he could do with all that money but he did his best to hide this by simply folding his arms, closing his eyes and telling Vector _"__For once, Vector, you may actually be right about this case helping us actually become credible__…__provided we don__'__t screw it up.__"_

"_Ah ha, what did I tell you, old buddy?__"_ Vector said as he smiled and folded his arms as well. _"__I was right, again! And I__'__ve even gotten arrangements to meet up with the Chao__'__s owner, Ms. Thorndyke, in this very shop in a few minutes to get a head start. And who knows, when we find the Chao, maybe we__'__ll get the respect we finally deserve?__"_

"_Even though we__'__re finding another lost pet, as always,__"_remarked Espio, who had gone back to reading his manga. _"__Honestly I don__'__t see what the big deal is but hey, as long as we get paid, I won__'__t complain. At least it means that maybe we__'__ll get to eat something here and not have to dine __'__n dash every time one of us overspends__…"_he said as he glared toward the young bee opposite who had finished all the sausages and was now working on the ice-cream.

He leaned toward the bee and said _"__You might want to savor that, Charmy. Just in case things go wrong.__"_The bee clearly didn't hear him and still kept eating at a million miles an hour, which made Espio visibly sick from watching all that food go down without even a care in the world.

A few minutes passed when the door to the Sparkling Emerald opened and a small old lady walked in. She was an Overlander with white skin and grey hair with a cane. She walked over to the counter and asked for the Chaotix, upon which Vector yelled out _"__OVER HERE, MA__'__AM!__"_

She stared in his direction for a few seconds from bewilderment before walking over to his table, while Espio whispered angrily to Vector _"__Anta baka? Are you trying to cast suspicion on us?__"_to which Vector replied _"__Stop worryin__'__ so much and learn to go with the flow, I__'__m just trying to get her over here is all.__"_ The lady walked over to the table and sat down next to Charmy, who clearly had no idea what the hell was going on as he just kept eating.

The lady introduced herself, saying _"__Hello there, young__'__uns. My name is Ms. Thorndyke; I__'__m here about the finding my precious Golder.__"__"__Golder?__"_Espio asked with a raised eyebrow. _"__That__'__s what your pet__'__s called? Golder?!__"_to which Ms. Thorndyke suddenly replied _"__So what? Your name__'__s Espio; has anyone ever told you that your name is weird?!__"_before whacking him repeatedly with her cane.

"_W-wait!__"_Espio yelled before Ms. Thorndyke could land the killing blow. _"How did you know my name was Espio? We've never met before!" _Ms. Thorndyke stopped assaulting Espio and thought about this for a few seconds, before saying _"You see, young man, um…I knew your name because well…oh that's right, I saw this advertisement at the local bus station and it had your names on it."_

"_I was right, again!" _shouted Vector out of the blue. _"Ben owes me ten Mobucks!"_ Everyone else at the table stared at him in confusion for about a minute, before Ms. Thorndyke asked _"What are you talking about, young man?"_ to which Espio suddenly replied _"It's nothing; just a stupid bet."_

He didn't appreciate her trying to whack him to death with her satanic cane but decided to just get on with the case and ask whatever important questions were needed in order to solve it. He took out a notepad and a pencil and asked Ms. Thorndike _"Alright ma'am, I'm going to need to ask you a few questions about your Chao. First of all, when did you notice he was missing?" _to which she replied _"Golder is a she, dear, not a he. Anyways, it was about the 16__th__ that I noticed she was gone. Oh poor Golder; she must be so scared, being on her own for a whole week."_

Espio took down what she said onto the notepad, along with a note saying _'Golder is a she, and a stupid name at that!'_ before asking _"Next, where was the last place that you saw her?" _Ms. Thorndyke thought hard about this and replied _"I think it was in the attic but I've already checked there; I've had my bodyguard, Mr Bubbles, comb the whole house and he didn't find Golder at all."_

Espio again wrote this down on the notepad and tapped his pencil on his forehead as he considered the possibilities for the case of the vanishing Golden Chao and out of all of them, only one theory made the most sense. So he asked Ms. Thorndyke once more _"Alright, final question. Do you know anyone that was jealous of you having a golden Chao?" _to which she replied _"Well, most people thought Golder was really cute but the only person that got angry around her was my neighbour, that stupid know-it-all Danica Patrick! Oh how she always whinged about how no matter how hard she tried that her Chao would never become gold or special in any way!" _as she clenched her fists in anger.

Espio folded his arms and said _"Well, considering your precious Golder has vanished off the face of Mobius and Ms. Patrick being jealous of Golder, I imagine that she stole him - I mean, her in order to get one over you, Ms. Thorndyke."_ Ms. Thorndyke slammed her fist of the table, shocking Charmy from his food frenzy, as she said _"Of course, that stupid woman has to be the one who took my precious Golder! It's so obvious!"_

"_Of course," _Espio said, with a sly smile appearing on his muzzle. _"Now that we know who the culprit is, how about we pay dear Danica a visit and get Golder back?"_ he said as he got up from the table. _"I know the way; I'll take you three there and don't worry, I'll make sure you get your reward when we find Golder," _Ms. Thorndyke said as she got up and went towards the door.

"_Alrighty then," _Vector yelled out to no-one in particular. _"Chaotix Crew, let's get to work!" _he said as he pointed toward the door as if he was some kind of spiky-haired lawyer. He and Espio ran to Ms. Thorndyke and went out the door. Charmy was just finishing up his ice-cream and he looked around, wondering where everyone had gone right before Vector ran back in and grabbed Charmy by his arm and pulled him out of his chair.

_June 23__rd__, 12:45pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Selbina Street_

"_And that's all I know, kid."_ said Gordy, finally finishing that can of cola he started drinking at the end of the last chapter. Mighty thought hard about everything he heard and asked Gordy _"Just one question, Gordy? How the hell did you know all that? I mean, you mentioned details no-one else would have remembered, you remembered what everyone had said and you somehow managed to bring up people's thoughts! How is that possible? And weren't you supposed to be working?!"_

Gordy threw his empty can into the cart, only to then take out another can, before telling Mighty _"It's because I've got a photographic memory so I can remember even the smallest of things with dead-on accuracy. For example, at exactly 12:16pm today, you took a couple of tissues from the counter to stop your nose from bleeding and while asking around for the Chaotix, at 12:32 you went to the toilet for approximately 1 minute, 5.55 seconds."_

Mighty looked at Gordy, utterly disgusted that someone would actually bother counting how long he'd been to the toilet. Then Gordy continued _"And I was just eavesdropping anyways. It was a few hours before my shift but I like coming here for the jazz. Anyways, that's all I know but hey, at least you got a lead now. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta get back to work before I get distracted again."_

And with that, Gordy got up from the table and took off for whatever janitorial duties would face his wrath for the day. Mighty smiled, knowing that there was still a chance he could find the Chaotix, and he looked out the window. The rain had finally stopped and the sun was even starting to peek out from the clouds. _"Things are finally looking up!"_ he thought as he got up and went out the door, intending to go to Ms. Patrick's house and see if the Chaotix were there.

_June 23__rd__, 1:15pm_

_92 Hill Top Lane, Emerald Coast_

"_Dear lord, when I heard Hill Top Lane, I though it was just some fancy name; I didn't think it meant the lane was literally at the top of a hill the size of Downunda!"_

After walking up the hill for what felt like an eternity, Mighty, probably more tired than he'd ever been in his whole life, had finally reached Danica Patrick's house and inside, he might finally find the Chaotix and be able to join at last. The door was, oddly enough, wide open with a giant foot-shaped dent in the middle of it. Mighty let himself inside and walked straight into the kitchen, where you could access the rest of the house from.

Many of the cupboards had been opened, drawers had been pulled out and emptied and strangely, there seemed to be some kind of muffled screaming but Mighty for the life of him couldn't figure out where it was coming from. He searched through the rest of the house, noticing that several rooms had been practically ransacked.

He looked around as best he could but he couldn't find anyone at all. However, on his way out, Mighty noticed some kind of notepad lying on the ground next to the closet in the kitchen. Thinking it might be of some help to him, he picked it up and looked through it. The notepad seemed to be merchandise for some TV show called _'Gurren Lagann' _with a note on the inside saying _'Anyone else who reads this is going to be severely punished! This means you, Charmy! - Espio'_.

Obviously, it was the notepad seen in the flashback from earlier so Mighty read through it. The notes from earlier were written down but there were also a few new notes written since then, one of them saying _'Searching through Ms. Patrick's house; she denies owning Golder but we'll just see about that!' _and another saying _'Completely searched the entire house; haven't found a damn thing! Is she really telling the truth?' _In fact, the more notes Mighty read through, the more Espio was doubting the validity of this case, stating various odd quirks about Ms. Thorndyke that were apparently unlike her and how Golder was nowhere to be found. However, the final note written was an odd one, saying _'We've been duped! Ms. Thorndyke is a fake! She's actually F-' _and it ends there without any explanation.

Mighty put the notepad into his satchel and was about to leave when he noticed that that muffled screaming from earlier was stronger when he was near the closet. He tried opening it but it was locked. Didn't really matter as he decided to go for the easier route and ripped the door of its hinges before tossing it to the side of the room. Inside the closet was a young female Overlander with brown, long hair tied up with a bandana covering her mouth.

Mighty knew that this was probably the 'culprit', Ms. Danica Patrick but even so, he couldn't just leave her tied up so he untied her and ripped the bandana from her mouth. He always went about helping people when they needed it and they always thanked him but he wasn't expecting Danica to hug him really tight, while saying _"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" _over and over. Mighty went red with embarrassment and couldn't talk since he always got nervous around girls his age acting…intimate towards him and just hoped Danica didn't have anything else in store for him.

She finally stopped hugging him and went on talking again, saying _"I was stuck in there for hours! I screamed as hard as I could but no-one came in to help but then you showed up and let me out! Thank you so much!" _preparing to hug him again when he clutched her shoulders, saying _"Hold on a minute! Exactly what happened? Why were you locked in there?"_

She took a minute to regain her composure and think back to what happened and then said angrily _"This morning, a bunch of idiots and who I thought was Ms. Thorndyke came in and started ransacking the place, claiming that I had stolen that stupid Golder Chao of hers! And then, this big giant alligator-thing tied her up and threw me in here!"_

However, she stopped sounding angry and had a confused look on her face when she said _"But right before those idiots closed the door, they suddenly fell to the ground and behind them was Ms. Thorndyke, who was wielding what looked like a gun, before she aimed it at me. I screamed for help but then she said the strangest thing…"_

Mighty, scratching his head in confusion, asked _"What did she say?" _to which Danica replied _"She said in a weird accent "No worries, mate. You won't be dead…yet!" then she fired what might have been a tranquilizer dart at me and I lost consciousness after that."_

Mighty folded his arms, closed his eyes and thought deeply about everything he had found out in the last five minutes, trying to figure out what the hell it all meant. After some time, he concluded that the only way to find out what really happened was to go to Ms. Thorndyke's house and hopefully then, everything will reveal itself.

He finally opened his eyes and told Danica _"Thank you, Ms. Patrick. You've been a great help about well…everything, I guess." _Danica looked confused and asked Mighty _"Hold on, how do you know my name? We've never even met before" _to which Mighty replied _"Just heard of ya before, that's all."_ before leaving her house and going over to Ms. Thorndyke's house.

Strangely enough, the door to Ms. Thorndyke's house was also open but standing outside it was an enormous black bear wearing sunglasses in a black suit, who was talking to someone on his cell phone. Mighty waited for the bear to finish his phone call before talking to him but when the bear hung up, he looked at Mighty with livid eyes and angrily asked _"What are you looking at, punk?!"_

Mighty staggered back a little bit out of shock and replied _"N-n-nothing, sir! I was just g-going over to Ms. Thorndyke's house to see if any…if anyone was home." _The bear stared practically right into Mighty's soul and asked _"Why? What concern to you is Ms. Thorndyke, who I should mention is scared out of her mind right now?!"_

Mighty thought about what the bear had just said and replied _"I need to talk to her about…well, a lot of things, actually. And what do you mean she's scared out of her mind?" _The bear took off his sunglasses, showing small, weary eyes, and said _"I'm Ms. Thorndyke's bodyguard, Mr Bubbles, and I came here to find her in a closet, handcuffed and ball-gagged for what she says was since this morning! But I don't understand; she called me this morning to say that I could take the day off…"_

"_Then how come you came here anyway?" _Mighty asked as he folded his arms. Mr Bubbles replied _"Because when you're a bodyguard, especially for a senior citizen, you can't just forget about them the instant you get time off! I was concerned since she'd never done this before so I came up to check in on her and…well, this happened." _as he motioned towards the inside of her house.

Mighty went into the doorway and saw Ms. Thorndyke in the living room on a couch with a mug of coffee and a golden Chao sitting next to her and eating some square fruit. Mighty suddenly said _"Golder! Where've you been?!" _to which Ms. Thorndyke replied _"What are you talking about, young man? Golder's been with me since yesterday; I thought she'd vanished of the face of Mobius but it turns out she was sleeping over at Mr Bubbles' house since last week."_

Mr Bubbles came in and explained _"Turns out Golder is quite fond of me since she got in my car last week and she was sleeping inside since then. I drove up and gave her back to Ms. Thorndyke yesterday when I found lil' Golder sleeping on the back seat." _before having a little chuckle at the whole mess.

"_Well, that explains the case of the missing Chao but what happened to you, Ms. Thorndyke?" _asked Mighty, to which Ms. Thorndyke replied _"Well, Golder was sleeping in his little box in my room and I'd gotten up at 7am, I think, when this strange purple cross between a wolf and a weasel, wearing a fedora, broke into my house acting like he was like Indiana Jones or something and then he knocked me out and locked me into a closet where I was stuck for hours on end until Mr Bubbles here showed up and got me out."_

Mr Bubbles blushed slightly and said _"It was no problem, ma'am. It's all part of being a bodyguard but I wonder; why did this strange vandal lock you up and how come you called me and told me that I could take the day off?"_

Mighty's eyes suddenly widened as he finally figured out what was going on. _"The notepad! The fake Ms. Thorndyke! Everything makes sense now!" _he though as he ran out of the house. Mr Bubbles asked _"Where are you going?!" _to which Mighty replied _"To solve this damned case once and for all!" _as he ran down the hill toward the Sparkling Emerald, ready to finally find the Chaotix and solve this mystery.

**To be concluded…**

_Message from the Author - 23/Dec/2012_

_(Turns out that whole end of the world at 2012 thing was a load of gobshite. Who would've guessed? Anyways, we're onto the final act of this first episode and hopefully, you guys are still enjoying this!_

_This is the longest chapter I've done so far and yes, I know there's a TON of exposition but don't worry, there's gonna be some action in the next chapter and hopefully, it shall be awesome._

_In any case, that's all I have to say for now. Once again, please give your thoughts and voice any improvements that can be made. See y'all for the thrilling conclusion, next time on The World's Greatest Detectives! - FrDougal9000) _


	5. 01 The New Guy - 5 of 5

_Date: ?, Time: ?_

_Location: ?_

Pitch black; that was all anyone inside the room could see. No one inside knew where they were or what was going on but they knew that whatever was going to happen to them, it wouldn't be any good. Suddenly, a light turned on and a bright spotlight appeared in the middle of the room; slightly in front of the spotlight were three chairs, with three people tied to them; a large, green reptile, a medium sized purple chameleon wearing a scarf around his head and a small bee wearing a pilot's helmet and a life jacket.

A strange person then stepped into the spotlight; a purple wolf/weasel thing wearing a fedora, knee high boots and a belt with various things attached to it. However the most noticeable thing about this person was that he had a large overbite, meaning that a large tooth would always be sticking on from his mouth. He looked down on the three people tied to the chairs and gave an evil grin, before saying in a very Downundian accent _"Look what I bagged today, mama! One big-mouthed alligator, one irritating bee and one stupid, pretentious chameleon!"_

When the reptile suddenly cut in _"I AM NOT AN ALLIGATOR! I AM A CROCODILE! THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE! ALLIGATORS HAVE WIDERS JAWS!" to which the wolf/weasel said "So what? I still bagged ya lot and now, if ya'll excuse me_,_ I'm off to bag me a Golden Chao and get all that lovely moolah!" _Before he could turn around and leave, the chameleon asked _"Hold it! How do you know where the Golden Chao is?"_

The wolf/weasel folded his arms and replied _"Well, unlike you three, when there's something that can benefit me, I actually plan what I'm gonna do and 'cuz of that, I checked on everything to do with this case. Turns out that lil' Golder is sleeping over in the car of Ms. Thorndyke's boyguard, Mr Bubbles. I could've gone there first but I needed to get you three outta the way just in case ya found out. That's why I used this!" _as he pulled a rubber mask that looked like Ms. Thorndyke's face.

The bee suddenly screamed and yelled (really fast) _"Holy crap! He cut off that old lady's head and now he's gonna use some kinda voodoo-magic to kill us! Run away, run away, run away, run away, RUN AWAY!" _as he wriggled about and shook the chair, but to no avail.

The wolf/weasel stared at the bee with disgust and bewilderment before saying _"No Charmy, that ain't it! It's just a simple matter of using the art of mimicry to distract the idiots from the real truth and then seizin' it for yaself! It's amazing what a rubber mask and three weeks on Don Paolo's impersonation class will do for ya!"_

"_Anyway," _the wolf/weasel continued. _"It's time I was off to collect my prize…tomorrow in da papers, they'll be saying 'Fang the Sniper saves the Golden Chao!' and what about the Chaotix? Well…I guess they'll be…outta the picture, if ya know what I mean!"_

"_Ya won't get away with this, Fang!" _shouted the reptile. Fang stood still and laughed, saying _"Really, Vector? The most cliché saying in da book? No wonder you three are still considered two-bit troublemakers; if ya can't come up with any original phrases of your own, then how are you expected to actually help people instead of annoying dem?"_

Fang performed a small bow, before saying _"As I said before, I'm off to solve this damned case once and for all. To use your friend Epsio's pretentious little quirk, Sayanora, Chaotix Crew." _And with that he turned around and walked out of the spotlight, which vanished a second later, leaving the room in complete darkness once again.

"_You know, I never thought this would actually happen," _said Espio, tilting his head upwards. _"But I believe that we're genuinely, seriously and unbelievably fu-" _before Vector cut in, saying _"Not in front of the kid, Espio! Anyways, ya never know, we've gotten out of worse scrapes than this! Ya just need to stop being pessimistic 'bout things is all!"_

Espio looked towards wherever Vector was taking from and replied _"Well, I wouldn't be so pessimistic if I didn't have to work with you all the damn time! And don't try fooling yourself 'cause this time, we're well and truly screwed…whether we like it or not…"_

"_Well, I have ta admit it," _Vector said before sighing a little._ "Things ain't lookin' so bright at ta moment but don't worry, we'll get outta dis somehow…I just don't know how right now."_

To which Espio replied _"Well, that certainly fills me with optimism…got any ideas, Charmy?" _Charmy looked around since her couldn't see anything and said _"Well…I've just got one question…" _to which Espio replied _"And what would that be?"_

"…_Can someone please tell me what's going on?"_

_June 23__rd__, 1:55 pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

"_Okay, climbing up that hill may have been one of the most exhausting things in the world but hey, it's a helluva lotta fun runnin' down it!"_

After running down from Hill Top Lane, the Sparkling Emerald finally crawled into view and hopefully from there, everything would finally be solved. However, Mighty was so deep in thought about the entire case that he forgot to slow down and ended up crashing through the door. Not crashing really, more smashing through it to the point where part of the wall around it even broke off.

Mighty was lying face down on the floor, covered in light debris and glass shards, as the other customers stared at him for about a second before going back to whatever they were doing. Mighty tried getting up but his body was so shaken from crashing through the wall that the only thing he could do was lift his head a little bit.

When he looked up, he could see a pair of familiar looking legs walking towards him. When the legs were about one or two feet away from him, they crouched down and a familiar face popped into view; a yellow feline face with black hair and gigantic pigtails, looking kinda worried. She asked _"You okay, Chicky?" _before pulling him up.

Even though his body was still shaken up, Mighty was able to stand, although he sometimes swayed about. Then he replied _"Yeah, I'm okay. Just crashed through a wall, no biggie. Thanks by the way, Honey…actually, I need your help with something." _as he reached into his satchel and pulled out the notepad he found in Ms. Patrick's house.

"_Holy crap," _Honey said in a shocked manner as she snatched the notepad off Mighty and read through it. _"That's Espio's notepad! Where'd you find it?" _as she stared wide-eyed at Mighty, who said _"I found it just lying on the floor of someone's house. And anyway, how do ya know it's Espio's?"_

"_Because I'm the one who bought him this; I oughta remember things like that!" _Honey replied as flicked through the notes that Mighty had read upon finding it. _"Anyway, why would you have it? Espio would never let anyone flick through it, let alone have it so why..do…you…?" _She stared at the final note that had been written in the notepad, the one that had been cut off just as Espio was writing something that seemed important.

She lifted her head from the notepad with an extremely worried look on her face, before saying _"This can't be good." _Mighty stood there confused and asked _"Can someone please explain what's going on? Who's this F person that the last note brought up?!"_

Honey gave him back the notepad and promptly walked towards the vacant hole where the door used to be, saying _"Follow me, Chicky; this is pretty important." _So Mighty did just that and the both of them walked to a light-blue car on the sidewalk. Honey opened the car door and got in the driver's seat, before Mighty asked _"Umm…where are we going?" _to which Honey replied _"Remember when I said I'd help you with any one thing after saving me this morning? Well, this is payback. Get in."_

Mighty got in the passenger's seat as Honey put the keys into the ignition slot, activated the car and drove off towards the pier. Instantly, Mighty regretted getting in since Honey was…to put it subtly, utterly insane as a driver. She drove through the road at what felt like a million miles per hour, drifted all over the place (even when there weren't any corners or turns) and repeatedly smashed into the sides of other cars.

Mighty covered his eyes with his hands and asked _"OKAY, SO EXACTLY WHO'S THIS F GUY MENTIONED IN THE NOTE?!" _to which Honey very calmly replied_ "That F guy is Fang the Sniper, a well-known bounty hunter and master of disguise who's always trying to get one over the Chaotix for…some reason. He's probably the reason why you haven't been able to find the Chaotix all day."_

As Honey cut past the traffic and drove on the sidewalk, nearly running over several people, Mighty again asked _"SO WHY ARE WE DRIVING LIKE SOME KIND OF PYSCHOTIC OUTRUN FAN?!" _Honey barely avoided crashing into a baby carriage and replied _"Well, Fang's hideout is near the pier so I figure that's where the Chaotix'll be…or so I hope."_

Suddenly, as Honey was driving down the massive hills that seemed to be common in Emerald Coast, two trams appeared and stopped to pick up passengers, blocking up the upcoming intersection. Mighty put his hands down and sighed with relief, saying _"Finally…we can take a break."_ But Honey suddenly said _"We don't have time for this!" _and swerved over to the left, tailing a carrier truck with a massive ramp in the back.

Mighty realized what she was planning to do and asked _"Honey, what're you doing?! Honey, no, no, NO, NO, NO, N-AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" _as Honey drove up the truck and flew off the ramp and over the trams, landing safely on the other side of the intersection.

Honey smiled and said _"No worries, Chicky, we're okay. You just need to be a bit more optimistic about things." _as Mighty sat in total terror, with bugged out eyes, a dropped jaw and gone completely white in fear. Honey sniffed the air, noticing a very odd smell, and asked Mighty _"Eh…Chicky, did you just-" _to which Mighty very quickly replied _"Yes. Yes I did."_

Honey just stared at him for a couple of seconds before looking forward to focus once again on driving (if you can call whatever she was doing 'driving'). As she once again drove through the streets like she was playing BurnOut, Mighty thought _"For once, I actually wish that I was being driven by that B.D. Joe fella instead of Ms. Psycho-pants! Oh God, things honestly can't get any worse by this point!"_

_June 23__rd__, 2:30 pm_

_City Pier, Emerald Coast_

After what felt like an eternity of madness, they finally arrived at the pier and by arrive, I mean trying to parallel park by power sliding and getting the angle so wrong that they end crashing into the side of one of the other parked cars. Mighty had his head in his arms, trembling in terror as he muttered something along the lines of _"I want to get off this wild ride! I want to get off this wild ride! I want to get off this wild ride!"_

Honey turned off the car and looked over at Mighty. It seemed so strange that someone who saved her from a gun-wielding mugger would turn into jelly just because of some slightly crazy driving stunts but she figured that maybe she went a bit too far for once. She tried to comfort him a little by rubbing his head and telling him in a soft voice _"Hey…Mighty, we're here."_ although she couldn't help blushing slightly.

Mighty raised his head and asked _"Sorry, what did you say?" _to which Honey replied _"We're here; we're at the pier." _Mighty looked out the window and saw that they really had arrived at the pier; a massive sprawl of warehouses, steel containers and freighters with a beautiful view of the sky-blue ocean. _"Just so you know," _Honey suddenly said. _"Fang's hideout is apparently in Warehouse No. 8. But be careful, there might be a few traps at the entrance…or so I heard, anyways."_

Mighty opened the door and was about to get out when something popped into his head. He looked towards Honey and asked _"So…what're you gonna do now?" _to which she replied _"Well, technically I'm still supposed to be working so whoever's running the place right now is gonna be real mad at me for being gone so long. So, I gotta go back now or I might be fired if I'm gone too long. I'll see ya later and…just be careful, alright?" _as she placed her hand on his.

Mighty noticed what she was doing and moved his hand away as he blushed as red as a ripe tomato and replied _"Y-yeah." _before getting out of the car. He gave Honey a brief salute to say goodbye before she drove off, of course running over a few trash cans before she faded out of view. Mighty thought for a moment about all that had happened since this morning and how things had turned out much different from what he expected; that he'd be trying to find the Chaotix and solve a very curious case or that he'd actually save someone's life.

However, he decided to focus on finishing this whole mess once and for all and started running downhill towards the pier. The warehouses very conveniently had their respective numbers painted out on the roofs and front sides so it didn't take long for him to find Warehouse No. noticed a small door on the front leading inside and walked towards it, hoping that the Chaotix were inside.

However, when he got within three feet of the door, all sorts of crazy gizmos and gadgets popped out from all around the door; some were video cameras, others were eye and thumbprint identifiers and a few voice recorders could be seen. A strange monotone voice suddenly boomed out _"STATE YOUR IDENTITY, GOOD SIR."_

Mighty staggered back in surprise and stared at all these contraptions in confusion for a few seconds before replying _"Um…my name is…F-fang? Oh, that's right! This is Fang da Sniper 'ere, comin' to pick up the Chaotix!" _as he tried to put on his best possible Downundian accent in the hope that the machine would mistake him for Fang and let him in. But the machines did not retract and the deadpan voice boomed once again _"BUT YOU EXITED THE WAREHOUSE A MINUTE AGO WITH NO INTENTION OF TAKING THE CHAOTIX WITH YOU, YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE A PURPLE WOLF/WEASEL AND YOUR VOICE IS MUCH MORE NASALLY THAN USUAL. CONCLUSION: YOU ARE NOT FANG THE SNIPER AND THEREFOR, YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED." _as small lasers popped out from several of the gadgets and started firing at Mighty.

Mighty shrieked in shock and tried dodging the laser blasts as he backed away from the door; he ducked under the first five blasts that fired but as he raised his head back up, another blast hit him square in his face. He held his head in his hands in pain and decided it would be safer if he turned around and ran away. However, while he weaved around the blasts as best as he could, one of the blasts hit him right in the behind, causing him to scream in agony and fall flat on his face.

He helped himself up with his arms and looked back at the door in anger. All the door's contraptions had retracted and the door looked the same as any other but Mighty knew that they would reappear if he came anywhere near it again. He looked around his surroundings to find some kind of solution when he found a very large container. His eyes lit up and his frown turned into a evil grin.

Around the same time, on a hill behind the warehouse, Fang was preparing to take off for Mr Bubbles' apartment as he equipped several gadgets around his belt and got on a dark purple hover Vespa. He was revving up the steel beast when suddenly, he heard a large steel crashing noise. Startled, he looked towards the warehouse and noticed that a giant container shaped hole on the back and a wrecked container lying just outside of that hole. Fang turned off his Vespa and, taking a hybrid between a sniper rifle and a machine gun from a box on the back of the vehicle, he proceeded to walk back towards the warehouse to see what the hell just happened.

Inside the warehouse, the Chaotix, still tied to their chairs, had their eyes widened and jaws dropped in pure surprise out of a big metal container flying through the warehouse. Vector looked around and asked _"WHAT IN DA FLYIN' HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" _to which a slightly nasally, yet familiar voice replied _"I happened!" _as a black armadillo went into the building via the first container hole and untied the Chaotix.

He was nearly finished untying Espio, who asked _"Okay; just who are you and what's going on?" _to which the armadillo replied _"Name's Mighty the Armadillo, traveller of Mobius, strongest guy around and currently trying to join with you guys!" _Vector's eyes brightened up as he yelled _"Yes, I'm getting another 10 Mobucks from Ben! Alright!" _

Mighty had just finished untying Charmy as a loud Dowundian accent boomed out _"Alrighty mate! What idiot tore up my hideout?! Come out and show yaself!" _Upon hearing that, Mighty quickly ran out the other hole caused by the container crash as Fang came in from the other side, aiming his rifle for the strange voice he'd heard.

"_Alright, where are you?!" _Fang said as he surveyed the warehouse using a night vision scope on his rifle. _"Show yaself! Or are ya too chicken to face the great Fang the Sniper?!" _he said when he noticed that the Chaotix had been untied and had vanished. He looked around and noticed that a large green tail was just leaving the hole the container had left the warehouse through.

The Chaotix were trying to sneak away when a shot suddenly fired in the air. Startled, the Chaotix turned their heads around to find Fang aiming his rifle at them. _"Alrighty then," _Fang said as he slowly walked towards them. _"Raise ya hands and I'll give ya 'till the counta three to tell where that idgit who wrecked ma hideout went!" _Vector, Espio and Charmy all raised their hands high up into the air as Vector said _"I swear, Fang! I don't know where da guy went!"_

Fang loaded his rifle with three bullets, one for each target, as he said _"One…" _Vector waved his hands in the air, as his expression grew worse, saying _"I ain't joking! Da guy just took off and vanished withoutta trace!"_

Fang put his finger over the trigger and gave an evil grin as he said _"Two…" _Vector went on the ground, covering his head with his hands, shouting _"For da luvva everything, I'm telling da truth! I DON'T KNOW!"_

Fang didn't move as he said _"Three…time's up, detectives! I'll see ya in hell!" _He started laughing as he pulled the trigger when a familiar voice boomed out _"I'm up here!"_ Startled, Fang accidentally fired the rifle in the wrong direction and, silently cursing, looked up towards the top of the warehouse. On the top was Mighty, with the sun shining over him and reflecting off his massive red shell, arms folded, and a big grin on his face.

_[From Author - If you want to make this part more epic, then please put on this track - Ambassadrice Rouge (YT it)]_

"_You!" _Fang said as he began firing the two remaining bullets at Mighty. Mighty ducked under the first one and swayed to his left as the second one got within inches of his stomach. Fang tried firing more shots when he realized that he only loaded three bullets and yelled _"Damn it!" _

He pressed a button on the back of the rifle to activate a rapid fire mode and loaded a clip onto the bottom of the rifle, containing about 300 bullets. But by the time he raised the rifle back up towards the roof, Mighty had jumped down and was running towards him with his fist clenched and ready for action. Fang aimed his rifle at Mighty and fired a massive hail of bullets at him.

Surprised at the sudden increase of fire, Mighty dodged out of the way and hid behind a container. As the bullets kept hitting the container, Mighty tried to think about what to do. He knew that he wasn't fast enough to dodge so many bullets and that he had to think of something quick because the more bullets that shot at the container, the weaker it would get and the likelier he would get hit.

Suddenly, Mighty remembered the incident with the mugger from this morning and how the mugger tried shooting his back but the bullets kept bouncing off his shell without any harm being done. Knowing what to do, Mighty took his shell off his head and threw it outside the container, where it landed on his side.

Mighty ducked and rolled towards the shell and, fully protected by the shell, pushed it towards Fang as the bullets kept bouncing off the shell. Fang kept firing, although it did nothing, and by the time he realized it wasn't working, Mighty was already within ten feet of him.

Fang had used up all the bullets in his clip and was trying to reload when Mighty got up and ran towards Fang. Picking up his shell and placing it back on his head, Mighty ran at full speed towards Fang and with his fist once again clenched, he pulled his fist back before pushing forward and punching Fang with such a force that it knocked out the wolf/weasel thing instantly.

With the wolf/weasel lying down on the floor completely unconscious and a large dent left on his left cheek, Mighty cracked his knuckles and folded his arms, giving off a very satisfied smirk. After a few seconds, he looked toward the Vector, Espio and Charmy, who had not ran away like most people would or tried to help Mighty but stood there the whole time with eyes widened and mouths agape.

Vector, trying to comprehend what he saw, asked _"W-w-what just happened there?!" _to which Mighty replied _"Nothing, really. I just kicked his butt is all!" _as he put his arms around his head Naruto-style and walked towards them. _"Actually, that reminds me," _Mighty said. _"Can I join you guys? I mean, that's why I came here in the first place."_

All three detectives stared at Mighty before huddling up together, trying to figure out what to do. Vector went first, saying _"So what do we do with this new guy?" _to which Espio replied _"I don't know…to be fair, he did kinda save our lives. So…maybe? How about you, Charmy?"_

Charmy seemed to think real hard about his answer and said _"I really don't know what's going on, guys! Can you tell me what's going on?" _Vector and Espio face palmed before Vector came up with an idea, telling the other two _"Alright, I got a great plan but we gotta tell 'im," _indicating Mighty, who had been watching the whole time while he folded his arms. _"Chaotix Crew, huddle out!" _Vector said before the huddle broke apart.

With his chest stuck out and his arms down by his waist, Vector told Mighty _"Alright, newbie! Here's da plan; by next week, you gotta get us a case that actually pays for once! Ya can stay over by our place but if you can't find a good case or help win another case, then you're outta here! Got that?"_

Mighty put his hand over his mouth to consider the idea and figured it'd be a good idea to test out his detective skills a bit more so he nodded and said _"Yeah, I got it." _Vector smiled and all three detectives and Mighty started walking away as Vector said _"Good. Now, let's go back to da HQ; you can leave your stuff there and I'll get that twenty Mobucks from Ben so we can go out to eat."_

"_Ten Mobucks, actually," _Espio said. _"Remember, Fang was disguised as Ms. Thorndyke so the real Ms. Thorndyke probably never read that poster." _Looking a little down, Vector replied _"Oh yeah…still, at least we got ten bucks."_ The four kept walking for about a minute when Vector remembered about the case that started this whole mess in the first place, saying _"Oh, yeah! That's right, we still gotta find that little Golder! We'll just take that hint that Fang told us earlier and find Golder and get that 10,000 Mobucks! Sweet!"_

"_Actually," _Mighty said as he scratched his head and smiled slightly. _"I checked on the case and turns out that Ms. Thorndyke found Golder yesterday so she's taken the reward down now!" _Vector, Espio and Charmy all stopped, turned around to Mighty and yelled in great unison _**"WHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?!"**_

**The End**

_**Next time on the World's Greatest Detectives: **__In order to join the Chaotix, Mighty tries to find the Chaotix a good case that pays. However, it's a lot harder to find that one would think as most of their work is mostly odd jobs and finding lost toys for little kids but when a familiar face from Mighty's past shows up, a possible opportunity for a paying case arrives. Do the Chaotix have what it takes? Find out next time in __**02 - First Day on the Job! **__And don't worry, there will be fan service!(Maybe)_

_Message from the Author - 28/Dec/2012_

_(Finally, after a week and a half, I've finished off the first episode! Hurrah! Sorry, this took longer than usual to upload but I had a small case of writer's block about halfway through and I had to stay off the computer for while due to being sick._

_In any case, I really hope you enjoyed the first episode of what I hope is a fun, enjoyable series. I've got a few more ideas planned, one of which is given a brief hint in the next time preview._

_And for those wondering who the familiar face mentioned in that preview is, check the games Mighty's shown up in and you'll find a possible answer._

_Anyways, as before, give your thoughts on this chapter and the first episode in general. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like and if I can make any improvements to my writing style, please tell me._

_And with that, I'll see y'all next time! Have a kickass New Year, y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	6. 02 First Day on the Job - 1 of 6

_June 23__rd__, 4:45 pm_

_Onett Department Store, Mission Street, Emerald Coast_

"_For those of you expecting a possible relapse of this morning's stormy weather, you won't need to worry because it's likely that this afternoon's bright sunny weather will continue for the rest of the evening and possibly into tomorrow morning._

_Skies will generally be clear with lots of sun breaking through and a small chance of rain but don't expect any bad weather for the next day or two. We will report on the weather later on in case anything changes but for now, expect good weather for Emerald Coast. This is Scarlet Garcia, reporting for Neutronic News Network, signing out."_

Even though Mighty had been running everywhere looking for the Chaotix and was getting exhausted with walking around the city like he had all day, he was glad that it would nearly be done. He, Vector, Espio and Charmy had been walking back to where their HQ was and after more than two hours, they had finally reached the department store in which their HQ was located.

They went inside and Mighty noticed how nothing had changed since this morning; he figured that more customers would show up during the day but the store was still as vacant when he came in this morning. And as well, the store was still the same: the clothes and furniture were still really tacky and uncomfortable and the merchandise was still horribly out-dated.

The Chaotix and Mighty all walked up to the desk where a familiar red squirrel seemed to be having a nap with the magazine from this morning covering his face. Vector knocked on the desk, which knocked the squirrel out of his sleeping as he looked around, saying something along the lines of _"Officer, I swear I paid her to do th - the hell?"_

He noticed the Chaotix staring at him in shock and confusion beforefolding his arms and saying _"Oh, it's you guys. Glad to see you're back from your big case. Did you screw it up like last week's…incident?" _to which Vector replied _"Hey, just because I got mistaken for that panty thief at that swimming pool don't mean that we're gonna screw everythin' up!"_

The squirrel looked disinterested as he asked _"Again, did you screw it up or did you actually get paid?" _to which Vector looked down and replied _"N-no, we didn't; we got captured and then saved by da new guy." _as he indicated towards Mighty. Vector suddenly remembered what he came back for and rose up with confidence, almost looking like a completely different person, as he said _"That's right! Mighty 'ere saw that poster! You owe me ten Mobucks, Ben!"_

Ben reached into his pocket, taking out his wallet and searching through it as he found ten Mobucks and gave them to Vector, saying _"Damn, I was hoping you'd forget. Ah well, a bet's a bet…anyways, is that all you're here for?" _to which Vector replied _"Nope, we're here to drop off Mighty's gear" _indicating the satchel the armadillo had been dragging around all day. _"And then we're off to get a bite to eat for a job well done."_

Ben got up as he said _"A job well done…even though you admitted to screwing up? Makes sense to me, not that anything does these days." _He walked towards a door at the back of the store, taking out a bunch of keys and using one of them to open the door, which had a sign saying _"Chaotix Detective Agency - We take any job that pays!"_

The door opened out to a rather stuffy looking room and the Chaotix walked into the room as Ben said _"Alright, lemme know when you're done so I can lock up." _before going back to his desk. All four walked into the room as Vector closed the door behind him. Espio went over to a nearby wall and leant on it in order to relax, Charmy hovered silently towards Vector and the two played a bit of rock-paper-scissors (Charmy won 5-2, by the way) and Mighty took a look around to see what kind of HQ this was; the room looked very old and nothing like he imagined a detective agency would look like.

There was a tattered old couch in the middle of the room, facing one of those old letterbox TVs you don't see anymore with a SEGA DreamCast next to it and a bunch of game cases littered about the floor. At the back of the room was a big wooden desk covered with case files and behind that was a giant wooden board with newspaper articles and photographs taped onto it. And then on the left side of the room was a small hallway leading out to other small rooms.

Mighty dropped his satchel on the couch as he went over to inspect the wooden board and the newspaper articles, one of which caught his attention. It had two pictures, the first featuring two chameleons who looked similar to Espio. One was a female with long dreads coming down from her head and wearing a long scarf that fluttered in the breeze and the other was a male with two horns protruding out of his head, one smaller than the other, and wearing a trench coat that looked like what Mighty imagined a typical detective would wear.

Below that photo was a smaller picture featuring what looked like a young chameleon looking towards something with a terrified look in his eyes. The newspaper was showing its age as the paper quality wasn't all that great and it was near impossible to read the text but it certainly looked interesting.

He was going to check out the other articles when Vector suddenly piped in, saying _"So…what do you think, Mighty?"_ Mighty turned around and replied _"Well, as a detective agency, it's certainly…unexpected but as somewhere to stay for a while, I love it!" _as he flopped down on the couch, which he almost instantly regretted as he felt like he just fell onto a big pile of bricks shaped like a couch.

His eyes bugged out in pain and he felt something snap as he wriggled about on the couch, screaming _**"DEAR GOD, WHAT IN HELL DID JUST LAND ON?!" **_Vector came over to try get him up, saying _"Sorry 'bout that couch, it's always been like that. We'd get a new one but we can't afford it right now." _He tried getting Mighty off the couch but due to Mighty wriggling about, he ended up accidentally kicking Vector in the face several times while Espio started talking, saying _"We'd probably have the money to pay for a new couch, among other things, if someone didn't keep going out and buying copies of PlayReptile and tons of Kleenex boxes!"_

After about the tenth shoeprint forced onto Vector's face, he suddenly yelled _"Yeah well, what about ya and your stupid mangah tentacle nonsense?!" _to which Espio replied _"For the last time, all manga does not equal hentai, kuruko baka! And don't try change the subject; my books cost 10 Mobucks a pop, while your skinmags are 7 and all those tissues cost about an extra fiver! So in the end, you're still spending more than I am!"_

Vector was struggling to keep Mighty calm throughout this argument and had just about enough of things and he picked Mighty up and hoisted him high in the air, aiming him towards Espio. Mighty snapped out of his panic attack and looked around before realizing what was going on as Charmy yelled _"And it looks like the Mad Croc's about at launch another poor sucker at the Weeaboo Whinger! Will the Whinger be able to turn things around before he's defeated yet again? Find out next time when the fanfic author actually bothers to get off his ass and do someth-"_

"_**SHADDUP, CHARMY!" **_Vector yelled as he threw Mighty at Espio very hard, slamming the two straight into the wall, which cracked from the pressure. The two lay down on the floor, dazed and confused, while Vector sat down on the couch and closed his eyes, trying to collect himself. Mighty lifted his head up and shook it quickly, trying to figure what the heck just happened when he noticed he was lying over Espio in a very, very compromising position.

Mighty's eyes widened and he blushed like a certain angry echidna (_who shall not be appearing in this fanfic because I don't care all that much for him - Author) _when Espio said in a very bitter tone _"Off. Now!" _And with that, Mighty immediately jumped up from the floor with his hands raised in the air. He looked towards Vector, still trying to gain his senses, when he remembered something important. He went around to his satchel, still lying on the couch, and reached his hand into it, pulling out a purple notepad based on some old anime from years ago.

He walked back over to Espio, who had been leaning on the wall and his hand pressed on his back as if to fix some kind of bone damage, and handed him the notepad, saying _"Um…this is yours, right? Well, here you go." _Espio looked at Mighty and, noticing the notepad, snatched it from him and began reading through it, asking _"Where did you get this?" _to which Mighty replied as he scratched his head _"I found this at Ms. Patrick's house. You know, the woman whose house you guys ransacked this morning?"_

That didn't seem to be of any concern to Espio as he flicked through his notes to see if anything new was written in. He closed the notepad and glared at Mighty, asking him _"How much did you read?" _to which Mighty staggered back slighty in fear of this pretty scary chameleon, before replying _"Only the last few pages just to figure out what was going on. That's all, I swear!"_

Espio glared at him again before putting the notepad into his pocket…in his leg. Mighty would've started wondering about how the hell Mobians have little pockets in their legs when Vector rose up from the couch with his arms folded, saying _"Alrighty then! Who's up for lunch?" _Charmy woke up out of his little nap and flew into the air, saying _"Me, me, me, me, me!" _Mighty stared at Vector before asking _"Hold on, didn't you just have a fight? And now, you're pretending it didn't happen and going straight for lunch?!" _to which Espio piped in, saying _"Forget about it. He has more mood swings than a teenage diva. You'll get used to it after a while."_

Vector and Charmy ran out the door and Espio slowly walked towards it as Mighty stood there stunned in silence. Mighty snapped out of his funk and asked _"Hey, Espio…" _The chameleon stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at Mighty for a second before Mighty continued _"Sorry about lying over you like that."_

Espio's muzzle went very slightly red as he replied _"It's alright. Don't worry about it…and thanks for the notepad. But we better get going or Vector'll think we're staying behind and when that croc's left on his own, everything just goes insane." _And with that, Espio turned back and walked out the door, quickly followed by Mighty with an eager smile on his face.

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 5/Jan/2013_

_(After a week and a bit of writer's block, getting sick and being distracted by TV Tropes all the damn time, I'm back with my latest chapter. I know not much happens in this chapter but I figured that some kind of interaction between Mighty and the Chaotix would help the story develop a bit better. _

_So because of that, Espio and Vector got to argue, Charmy gets more lines in this chapter than he did in all of the first 5 chapters and there's some ship teasing between Espio and Mighty. Ahh, ship teasing; the one way to set the fanbase on fire with shipping arguments and debates over the OTP. _

_Anyways, a couple of minor note on something; yeah, I've hinted and now outright stating that Espio is kinda a Japan-crazy character, what with reading manga and speaking Japanese, as seen with the phrase 'kuruko baka' - which roughly means 'stupid croc'. But don't tell it to his face - or use the words 'weeaboo' or 'japanophile' - if you want to keep your testicles together._

_And that's about all I have to say about things for now. I'll see y'all next time when something actually does happen and until then, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	7. 02 First Day on the Job - 2 of 6

_(To fit the mood for this scene, I recommend you listen to both __ watch?v=65GSfWa7cwg__ and __ watch?v=umeDHgsrMag__ - Author)_

_June 23__rd__, 5pm_

_Pollyanna Park, Emerald Coast_

After tons of squabbling between Espio and Vector as to what to buy with the money, it was decided after ten rounds of rock-paper-scissors (due to Vector being a sore loser) to get a few drinks for now and keep some spare change for later. So, leaning on a rail on a small bridge, Mighty was having a fresh can of Space Cola, Charmy was guzzling down on a bottle of Chaos Soda, Espio took small sips of a can of Orango Pop and Vector was practically swallowing a massive can of Katsuragi's Batch.

While it certainly wasn't dark, the sun was already starting to set bit by bit as everything took on a slightly orangey tint and long shadows projected from every building, vehicle, person and object the rays from the massive ball of flame touched. Since the rain had cleared off since this morning, the streets were once again bustling with busy people, both Overlanders and Mobians, crossing the streets and sidewalks for their destinations.

Cars, vans and motorbikes passed through the roads, coming in and out of view as a soothing acoustic guitar's serenade played softly from a nearby guitarist trying to get some money. Mighty couldn't help but look at everything around him and just…smile. It had been a very long time since he'd been anywhere that was so calm, had so many people and so…happy.

And he would've appreciated it longer if Vector didn't let off an enormous belch so loud that even deaf people would complain about the noise, followed a few seconds later by _"AAAAAaaaaaawwwwwwwww, yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh …nothing like a cold one after getting' paid, eh?"_

"_Well, maybe…if it didn't smell so bad." _remarked Espio before he took another sip of his cold can. _"What d'ya mean, Esp?" _Vector asked as he stretched his arms out. _"You don't even have a nose so how can ya smell?!" _to which Espio replied _"Well, considering that our new recruit is looking as if he's about to vomit, I don't even need to smell to tell how bad that one was!"_

Vector turned his head and noticed Mighty was leaning over the railway with a sickly green face and puffy cheeks, looking as if he was about to throw up before very quickly swallowing it with a wretched expression on his face. He turned around and exhaled a burst of breath before saying _"Ohhh God…that was horrible…"_

Vector replied, saying _"Well, why didn't ya go? Better out than in, I always say!" _before letting off another small burp. Charmy stopped guzzling his soda and said _"But Vector, you've never said that before. Ever. Come to thinka it, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that. At all."_

"_And please for the love of God," _Mighty said as he went over to Vector and started tugging him. _"Stop burping! For crap's sake, please!" _to which Vector replied _"Aw, alright! But you're no fun, ya know that? Well, at least you'll get along with Esp just fine." _as he laughed towards Espio, who just stared off into the distance as he drank from his can.

"_So Mighty," _Vector asked as he swallowed more beer from his massive can. _"What's ya story? Ya know, why ya came here and stuff." _to which Mighty replied _"There's not much to say, really. I'm just a traveller who found your ad one day and since I'd lost most of my money, I figured maybe a day-job might help get me some moolah." _Espio came in, saying _"Boy, did you pick the wrong job, then! Of all the people to come to, you could've done much better than us!"_

Mighty folded his arms and asked _"Well, how come?" _to which Espio replied _"Because out of all the people in this town, we're probably the least well-off; we barely get paid since Vector keeps optin' to do jobs for free, most of our work is either helping kids find lost toys or something that we eventually screw up and on the off chance we do get paid, Vector spends most of it on skinmags and tissue boxes -"_

"_And whenever Espio swipes the rest, he spends most of it on his tentacle nonsense!" _Vector quickly cuts in before Espio says with a red face _"__**FOR THE LAST DAMN TIME, THAT WAS ONE ISSUE! THAT DOESN'T MEAN ALL MANGA = NAUGHTY TENTACLES! **__Anyways, like I said, if you wanted to try get paid, this is the wrong place to do so."_

Mighty, with his arms still folded, thought hard about this for a few minutes as the guitarist from earlier packed up and left…right before another man with an accordion showed up and started playing for money. _"Still," _Mighty said. _"Do you think maybe you're setting your sights too low? I mean, you could actually be good detectives but you never get the chance to shine."_

"_That may very well be," _Espio replied, as he took yet another sip from his seemingly endless can. _"But what does it matter? You're still not going to get much pay so you'd be better off giving up now-" _before Mighty cut in, saying _"Well, I guess that'll have to change then."_

Espio, annoyed at the sudden interruption, asked _"What are you yammering on about now?" _to which Mighty replied _"I'm saying that we've got to set our sights higher if we wanna get paid better!" _as he climbed onto the top of the rail. _"Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna try make the Chaotix Detective Agency the greatest detectives on Mobius!" _he said as he pointed towards the setting sun. Vector, Espio and Charmy simply stared at him in plain confusion at what Mighty intended to do with them.

"_Well, we're doomed." _Espio said as he turned around, took one final sip of his can and threw it into the nearest trash bin. _"Ah, c'mon partner," _Mighty said as he jumped down from the rail and went over to Espio. _"You never how we'll do in the grand scheme of things 'till we give it a go!" _Espio folded his arms and said _"First of all, I'm not your partner and secondly, we had another member who had the same idea as you but…things went badly and he ended up leaving. So I do have some idea as to how things will probably turn out."_

"_Wait a minute!" _Mighty said. _"You used to have four guys? Who was he?" _to which Espio replied _"Who else? Fang." _Mighty gasped as he remembered the crafty wolf/weasel who had captured the Chaotix earlier that day and said _"Hold on, FANG used to work with you guys?! But why would he leave and then, try to kill you three?!"_

"_He worked with us; that should be reason enough to just about anyone." _Espio replied as he turned around and stared towards the sun. _"But as for Fang specifically, it seems he realized he wasn't getting as much money as he thought he should and left. However, there's probably another reason…" _he continued as his eyes partially closed up in anger, for some reason Mighty didn't know of.

"_Riiiiiiight…" _Mighty replied as he staggered back slightly. He tried to be friendly to Espio and tried so, so hard to forget that incident that happened earlier on but he had to admit it: Espio was just plain scary. Even so, he tried not to give up and said _"But that was just one guy, who probably couldn't stand you anyways. I mean, I like you guys…so far, at least. So you never know; things may turn out all right."_

"_But we're not gonna know fa sure 'till you get us a payin' case!" _Vector interrupted as he continued drinking from his enormous can. _"And unless ya do just that, ya can forget about makin' us the World's Greatest Detectives or some bull crap like th-" _before Espio cut in, saying _"Vector! No swearing, not in front of Charmy!"_

"_Oh, what are you on about, ya scaly hypacrite?" _Vector said as he swallowed the rest of his can and threw it away as he walked towards Espio with the intention of a showdown, none like anyone had seen since…the last chapter anyways. _"You were about at say the f-word earlier, when it looked like we were finished!"_

"_And so what?!" _Espio replied as he took a slight fighting stance. _"At least I don't drink BOOZE in front of a minor and read skinmags in the same room as him!" _he said as he pointed toward the discarded can of Katsuragi's Batch lying on the ground.Mighty looked over in Charmy's direction as he said _"Umm, guys…" _when Vector's usual grin turned into a huge, angry snarl and replied _"The beer's safe enough! I've been drinking it for the last week and only got drunk off it ONCE! Not to mention that stuff you read where people's heads explode and octopuses do ungodly things to everybody!"_

"_Hey, guys…" _Mighty said before he got interrupted by Espio yelling _"__**ONE TIME! ONE GODDAMN TIME! GET OVER IT!**__" _Vector held his fists up to his face and started lightly jogging in place, saying_"Ya wanna go?! We can go right here, right now!" _to which Espio put out a full-on fighting pose as he replied _"My pleasure, you kuruko baka!"_

"_Guys." _Mighty said.

"_**JAPANOPHILE WEEABOO!**__" _Vector yelled.

"_Guys!" _Mighty said again.

"_**STUPID ALLIGATOR!**__" _Espio shouted. The two ran towards each other, looking as if they intended to kill one another.

"_**GUYS!" **_Mighty shouted out which startled Vector and Espio, who both stopped in their tracks and stared with wide eyes at the armadillo. Mighty pointed in Charmy's direction, saying _"Calm down. Look." _Espio and Vector turned their heads and found Charmy sitting down on the ground, sleeping peacefully next to a spilled bottle of Chaos Soda.

About a minute passed with the only sounds coming for the nearby accordion guy and the busy city streets before Vector looked at Espio and said _"Alright…not in front of the kid. We'll take care of this later." _And with that, Vector went over to Charmy and picked him up. Vector couldn't believe how big Charmy had gotten lately; he used to be so tiny and while he was still small compared to Vector, he was a bit bigger than most other ten year olds Vector had seen in his years of work.

Vector put the napping bee over his shoulders, making sure the bee's prominent stinger didn't make contact with his back, turned around to Mighty and Espio and said _"C'mon, we better take 'im home." _before promptly walking off. Espio angrily muttered something along the lines of _"Fine…" _through gritted teeth before he and Mighty began walking as well, eventually catching up with Vector.

Mighty put his arms around his head as usual and asked _"Actually, since we're taking Charmy home, can I ask where I'm gonna be sleeping?" _to which Vector replied _"Thing is, we don't really have a spare room at da moment. Well, okay we do but I ain't goin' through da effort of clearing' it out if you don't get us a payin' case so for now, you'll just have at sleep on da couch."_

Mighty's eyes widened out and he asked _"Hold on, what?! That couch nearly killed my back and now you're expecting me to sleep on that death-trap for about a week?! Why can't I just sleep with one of you guys?" _Vector and Espio stopped walking and stared at him in complete and utter confusion and disbelief for a few seconds before Espio said _"You..really..want to know…why you can't…sleep with one of us?" _to which Mighty replied _"Yeah."_

Espio groaned as he face palmed himself and began walking again. Vector looked at Mighty for a few seconds before shaking his head and walking off again. Mighty scratched his head before he tried catching up with Vector and Espio, asking _"Hold on a minute, what's that supposed to mean?!"_

_June 24__th__, 6:57am_

_Chaotix HQ, Onett Department Store_

It had been several hours since everyone went to bed but Mighty was still awake, tossing and turning on this unholy abomination of furniture and desperately trying to get to sleep. He tried everything; he tried counting Chao, he tried to make his mind blank, he even tried reading one of Vector's skinmags in the hope that some relieved tension would get him to sleep _(Well, he is eighteen. What do you expect?! - Author)_ but none of it, none of it, worked.

And now all he managed to do was just ruin the old blanket Vector had lent him and gotten no closer to dropping off. Mighty stared up at the dirty ceiling above him and remembered some TV show he watched mumbling on about an unfamiliar ceiling. _"Well, I'm gonna become plenty familiar with you, Mr Ceiling…oh God, did I really just call a ceiling 'MR'?! Great, now I'm going crazy over this whole thing; how can this get any worse?"_

His rambling brain was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a door opening. Mighty sat up from the couch and looked down the hallway, hearing footsteps but seeing nothing. After a minute, he heard the fridge door open and its buzz droned on as sounds that sounded like someone pouring milk out of a carton could be heard. Then the fridge door closed, ending its constant buzz.

Mighty figured that it was just someone getting something to drink and put his head back on his pillow, trying to get to sleep once again. However, the footsteps from earlier not only started up again but progressively got louder; not Vector loud, mind you, but loud as if someone was walking over to the couch.

_tap, tap, tap, tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap._

The footsteps reached the couch and Mighty started wondering if something was wrong, if this person wasn't part of the Chaotix but someone who'd snuck in and might cause serious damage. Normally, he'd go and fight this mysterious person but he was too tired to think straight at this point and decided to hide himself under his blanket.

Mighty began to feel scared about what might happen as the footsteps sounded like they were right in front of him and thought that he'd been discovered by the mysterious stranger. Expecting the covers to be pulled off, Mighty couldn't help but shake in fear of what was to come but strangely enough, nothing happened. The blanket wasn't pulled off, there wasn't any indication of a crazy thief brandishing a knife or anything dangerous happened.

Instead, in complete darkness, Mighty heard the old TV in front of the couch being turned on and the sound of static as what seemed like someone changing the channel occurred beyond the blanket. Until finally, the static ended and in its place, an epic orchestral piece began playing as a strange, but almost familiar voice began talking.

"_A lone warrior travels the length of the world in order to find and destroy the evil forces of the Zeed organization. Summoning the spirits of the once famous Oboro clan, this lone warrior challenges the organization's leader, Neo, to the ultimate showdown. This lone warrior is Joe Musashi: The Super Shinobi!"_

And with that, guitars and drums burst out in an explosive symphony of harmonies and solos accompanied by someone speaking in a language that to Mighty, sounded kinda catchy but was complete gibberish. Wondering what was going on, Mighty slightly lifted the blanket and saw two very strange things: on the TV, images of a white-clad ninja with a massive red scarf slicing through other ninjas and soldiers, performing amazing acrobatics and getting into a giant robot to fight giant monsters; and in the real world, a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk FLOATING IN THE AIR!

"_What the hell?!" _Mighty shouted. At that instant, pure madness happened. Espio suddenly appeared out of nowhere, turning around and holding a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk and startled, began yelling out of pure shock. Vector suddenly came running into the room, wielding an old but massive bass guitar on its neck upside down, and Charmy the next second with a water pistol armed and ready to attack.

Vector shouted _"Alrighty then, Espio! Who's da jerk who's attackin' ya and stealing our stuff?!" _to which Espio yelled _"There's no thief! There's just this stupid armadillo who started yelling out of nowhere!" _pointing at Mighty, who was sitting up as he replied _"What do you mean out of nowhere? You knew I was sleeping here! And what about you?! You appeared out of the blue after I saw cereal and milk floating in the air!"_

Espio pinched the gap between his eyes, saying _"Anta baka? I'm a chameleon, you dolt! I can go invisible anytime I like! I thought you would've known that!" _to which Mighty replied _"Well, I didn't, sorry to tell you that! Anyway, what the hell were you doing up here anyways?!"_

Espio pointed at the shining ninja on the TV, who was currently doing epic poses in front of massive explosions, and said _"That! Every Saturday morning, I get up really early to watch the Super Shinobi and I happen to go invisible just in case someone barges in! That's why I'm here right now!"_

Mighty kept viewing the madness that was going on in the Super Shinobi and asked Espio _"Hold on, isn't this show meant for ten year olds? Why are you watching it?" _to which Espio folded his arms and replied _"Well, just because it's for kids doesn't mean adults can't watch it, does it?" _Mighty stared at him for a few seconds before Vector barged in, saying _"So it was just a big misunderstandin' then? Well, at least we're alright and since we're all up, maybe we can start early on work!"_

Mighty rubbed his eyes in the hope that he could get out of this crazy dream and asked _"Vector, it's like 7am. Why would we be up and about this early?" _to which Vector replied with his arms stretched out like a super hero _"Well, it's not like you were gonna get ta sleep anyways. Yeah, that's right! I know you stole one of my mags last night and by the way, you're paying for your own blanket from now on! Anyways, I've already got us quite a few cases planned today so hopefully, we'll get paid for a case this time 'round! Get ya gear on, Chaotix Crew, and head out!"_

_June 24__th__, 8:30am_

_Emerald Coast Beach, Emerald Coast_

The skies this morning were overcast and completely grey as a cold wind drifted through the beach as our intrepid detectives worked hard on their truly epic case: finding 20 missing hermit crabs!

Mighty, wearing a small orange hat to get the cold out of his antler-like ears, lifted up a small boulder, looking for another crab, and finding only a green patch of grass, yelled out _"No crabs over here, Vector!" _Vector, who was wearing a massive trench coat and holding a pencil and a map, crossed out another area of the beach, saying _"Dammit, that's another area wasted! How ya doin', Espio?"_

Espio, wearing his scarf for cold or rainy days, was currently being chased by a psychotic monkey who was barraging him with coconuts and tried shouting back _"Not good. I've searched all over and haven't found one blasted cr- OUCH! Stupid monkey!" _as he rubbed his head and looked back angrily at the cheeky ape laughing his head off.

Charmy, who was wearing what can only be described as a giant mitten and holding a small hermit crab, flew over to Vector, yelling _"I found one, Vector! I found one! I'm gonna call it 'Hermy'!" _Vector looked at the crab and shouted _"All right! Great job, kid!" _as he proudly patted Charmy on the head before telling Mighty and Espio _"Okay guys, that's one down, 19 to go! Keep searching!"_

Mighty continued searching the beach and while chased by that damn monkey, he said to himself _"This is going to be a long, long day…"_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 11/Jan/2013_

_(More filler today, hurrah! Yeah, I know not much happens in this chapter either but the general plot of the episode, I have to admit, is kinda thin, at least on premise, so please forgive the last two chapters of filler!_

_Don't worry though, the next chapter will actually have something happen, as well as a guest appearance from a character from Mighty's past! So look forward to it!_

_Anyways, as before, tell me what you thought of this chapter and if I can improve my writing in anyway possible and with that, I'll see y'all next time! Have a great day, y'all - FrDougal9000_

_P.S. Sorry for the massive yaoi undertones in the last chapter if that made you wanna vomit!)_


	8. 02 First Day on the Job - 3 of 6 (RECUT)

_June 24__th__, 2:15pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

This afternoon, aside from repairs being made to the hole in the front wall that showed up the day before, the Sparkling Emerald was no less busy than usual; all of the tables were filled with customers of all kinds, discussing the details of their daily lives and drinking coffee as smooth instrumental jazz played over the speakers, giving the place a very peaceful atmosphere.

However, that peace was suddenly interrupted when the fixed front door slammed open with such a force that the slightly repaired wall actually fell apart again and an even bigger hole was left behind. And one by one, Mighty, Vector, Espio and Charmy walked in and over towards the counter to sit down, with all but Charmy looking completely exhausted.

Sweating all over, bruised and battered with their clothes in tatters, out of breath and slouching on their chairs, Vector, Mighty and Espio looked as if they would keel over if so much as a bubble popped with 5ft of them. Mighty put his arms together on the counter to make a pillow of sorts and rested his head down on it, hoping to finally get some sleep after the morning he had.

However, a familiar feline voice interrupted his attempt to drop off, saying _"You do know you're going to have to pay for that, right?"_ Mighty lifted his head up and saw Honey looking at him with an enthusiastic smile on her face, which was suspiciously close to his. He would've blushed at this but he was too tired to care at the time so he just said _"Oh. Hey, Honey." _before promptly putting his head back down on the counter.

Honey frowned at what just happened and looked over towards the rest of the Chaotix and noticing how damaged Vector and Espio looked, she went over to them and asked _"Things not going well for you guys?" _to which Mighty groaned _"Heeeeeeelllllllllllll…" _Honey looked over in Mighty's direction before going over to a nearby tap to pour herself a glass of water as she asked _"C'mon, it couldn't have been that bad, could it?"_

"_Oh God…where do I even begin?!" _Espio remarked as he leant on the counter, with his hand firmly massaging his head. _"Firstly, we spent two hours at the beach, in the freezing cold, looking for a shipment of hermit crabs, which were actually in the nearby hotel, taking a nice dip in the swimming pool while we were getting pelted with coconuts by some psychotic ape and Charmy was spending his time playing with a dead crab he found!"_

"_Hey, don't blame me!" _Charmy replied, waving his hands in front of him in defense. _"How was I supposed to know that Hermy was gone? I thought he was just sleeping!" _when Espio slammed his fist down on the counter and shouted _"__**YOU STILL COULD'VE DISTRACTED THAT MONKEY, YOU DOLT!**__" _Espio looked around him and noticed that everyone else inside was staring at him in complete silence and utter confusion.

After a few seconds, he took his hand off the counter and shook it to calm the pain coursing through it as he said _"What? It makes sense in context." _to which Mighty replied _"Umm…no, it doesn't. At all."_ Espio folded his arms, put his feet up on the counter and continued _"Anyways, then we had to help this giant moronic cat find his stupid frog, which took like THREE DAMN HOURS because we had to do this horrible fishing mini-game that was utterly broken beyond all comprehensible belief!"_

Honey, with glass of water in hand, went back over to Mighty and quietly took his orange hat off, asking _"Hold on, a mini-game? In the real world? How does that even work?" _to which Espio replied _"Don't even get me started on all the questions that idea alone brought up!" _while Honey poured all the water into Mighty's hat and leaving it down next to his head.

"_And then, most horrifying of all,"_ Espio said as he put his arms on the counter, his fists clenching up in anger, _"we acted as entertainers at some kid's birthday party, which doesn't sound so bad I'll admit, but we were so awful that the kids just started pelting us with food and whacking us with baseball bats!" _Honey stared at him for a second before she started grinning madly and sniggered before turning into a full-blown laugh.

"_It's not funny-AUGH!" _Espio said as he slammed his fist on the counter once again, specifically onto a small plate, breaking it into several pieces. Honey tried to put her hand over her mouth to stop laughing but it was impossible so she kept laughing, while saying _"Are you sure there, Espio? T-that sounds frigging hilarious!"_

"_Aw, c'mon Espio," _Charmy said as he hovered towards Espio and kept circling around him, _"I thought it was pretty fun too!"_ Espio barely resisted the temptation to smack the bee in the face and replied _"Well, why wouldn't it be when you're the idiot that started throwing food at us in the first place?!" _In response, Charmy flew in front of Espio's face and said _"Well, it's not my fault I got bored; Vector was supposed to call me up from the audience but he didn't. Plus, you and Mighty are terrible singers!"_

Espio raised his hand, shaking in pure anger and ready to go on a psychotic rampage, but instead just used it to pinch the area between his eyes, as he replied _"Well, don't blame me for not being called up; Vector was too busy hitting on the birthday boy's mom!" _pointing towards Vector, who had fallen asleep on the counter and suddenly woke up when he heard his name, mumbling something along the lines of _"Get the handcuffs out, bab-…what're y'all looking at?!" _as everyone by the counter just stared at him.

Vector scratched his head very quickly before saying _"Look guys, I know we've had a little rough morning-" _to which Espio replied _"A little rough? A LITTLE ROUGH?! I don't know what cloud cuckoo land world you just came from but like Mighty said, we've gone through hell! We've put up with three tedious, annoying jobs, we've been trashed by a crazy monkey and a mob of ten-year-olds and worst of all, we didn't even get paid for any of it!"_

Espio stared at Vector, with hate practically breathing out of his gritted teeth, while Vector briefly stretched his arms before replying _"I know that but hey, when you're trying to help people, you're bound to have a crap day! But don't worry, we'll get something that's not only good, but actually pays!" _Espio folded his arms, closed his eyes and asked _"Well then, where is this great case? You said you had quite a few this morning so…what's the next case?"_

Vector reached into one of the pockets of his massive trench coat and took out a small piece of paper with names and phone numbers jotted down in a way, written in a way that looks like it was done by a five year old (_this is actually Vector's handwriting, not Charmy's_). All of the numbers had been crossed out on the side Vector looked at and, mumbling _"Oh no…"_, turned the paper around to see if there was anything else but the only thing on the other side was the scribbled out number of the mom he hit on earlier.

He put the paper back in his pocket and proceeded to face palm himself, saying _"Oh God…we're in trouble." _Espio let off a massive groan as he also face palmed himself while Charmy just buzzed in place, before mockingly doing a face palm. Mighty, with his head lying on his arms, stared over at the face palming trio with a very tired look in his eyes. He was starting to doubt whether or not this was actually going to work out and that maybe the Chaotix were just a bunch of hooligans fannying about like he'd heard throughout yesterday.

Suddenly, a newsman started speaking from the TV above the counter. _"In other news, a trio of strange bird-like robots were sighted in Station Square this morning attempting to rob the local bank. However, before they could get away, they were stopped by none other than our national hero, Sonic the Hedgehog!"_

At that moment, Mighty's ears pricked up and he sat up wide-eyed before taking a look at the news report. Video footage of a spiky blue hedgehog taking on the aforementioned robots played as the newsman continued _"Sonic quickly took down the robots with the same ferocity as when he fights Robotnik's mecha before returning the money to the bank and receiving the key to the city from the mayor of Emerald Coast once gain!" _as the TV showed Sonic getting a gigantic key from the mayor in front of a giant crowd before giving the camera on of his trademark thumbs-ups.

"_It's suspected by some that the robots were sent out by the infamous gang, the Babylon Rogues, in a new experiment of sorts but currently, there's no proof that that's the case. However, our hero never rests and has set out to find out what's really going on. When he does, we'll report back to you but until then, I'm Barry Watson and I'll see you for the next report on the Neutronic News Network." _the newsman said as the TV switched over to commercials.

Mighty stroked his chin out of curiosity, going _"Hmm…"_ but was interrupted by Vector saying _"Jeez, that good for nothing' punk got da key to da city? We break our backs trying to make an honest livin' and helpin' people out and we get nothing, yet that jerk gets everything in da world just fa smashin' a few robots! How's that fair?!"_

"_Well to be fair, Vector," _Espio replied as Mighty looked over in their direction, _"Sonic actually does help people out instead of genuinely making things worse…plus the robots happen to come from a dictator hell-bent on conquering Mobius; of course people are gonna love him for that." _to which Vector replied _"I don't care! How come he gets everything he wants on a silver platter while we have to work as hard as we can and still get nothing?! It just…it drives me nuts!" _as he slammed his fist on the table.

Honey walked over to the Chaotix, saying _"Alright guys, any more fist slamming and I'm gonna have to kick you out. I'm sorry but you keep scaring the customers and besides, that counter's not gonna last forever. Anyways, what's the problem?" _to which Vector shouted _"Didn't ya hear anythin' I just said there? Ya deaf?!" _as he got up from his chair very angrily and started leaning towards Honey.

Mighty very quickly got up and stood in front of Vector, trying to push him back from Honey and saying _"Calm down, big guy! You don't need to make things worse, alright?" _to which Vector smugly replied _"And why should I listen to a newbie who can't even sing right?!" _Mighty stopped pushing, stood tall in front of Vector and sternly said _"Because I'm the guy who may very well have saved your life yesterday…don't forget that."_

Vector clenched his fist and raised it up, ready to punch Mighty but after a few seconds, put it back down and sighed wearily before saying _"Sorry…'bout that. Just…that guy drives me insane." _Mighty tilted his head a little and asked _"How come?" _to which Vector replied _"…Don't know. He's just always bugged me, I guess." _Mighty scratched his head and said _"Anyways, I have an idea. Remember what the report just said about the… Babylon Rogues, was it? I'm thinking maybe we can try find them, or Sonic, and try capture them or at least find out the answers."_

Espio got out of his chair, walked over to Vector and Mighty and asked _"Why Sonic? Not that it's a bad idea, but why him of all people?" _to which Mighty replied _"I don't bring this up much but I used to know the guy back when we were kids…so I figure maybe he can help us out."_

Everyone at the counter stared at him in stunned silence for a few seconds before Honey asked _"Wait, you knew Sonic the Hedgehog?" _to which Mighty folded his arms and replied _"Well, yeah but that was like years ago so maybe he's forgotten. All we can do is try and besides, from what Vector said earlier we don't really have anything else to do so let's just get it over with!"_

Vector was sitting down, with hand over jaw, contemplating what to do before getting up and saying _"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. It's worth a shot at least but here's da thing, how're we gonna contact him?" _to which Mighty replied _"Simple, there's this spot we used to go to all the time when we were younger; maybe Sonic still goes there. It's a start, at least. C'mon!" _as he got up and walked towards the massive hole in the wall.

Vector looked at Espio, who shrugged and walked away from the counter. Vector looked over to Charmy, saying _"C'mon, kiddo, we're off!" _before he also walked off towards the gaping exit. Charmy was about to take off when he noticed Mighty's hat left on the counter so he picked it up and flew over to Mighty, saying _"Hey Mighty, you forgot your hat!" _Mighty saw the hat and took it from Charmy, saying _"Hey, thanks bud!" _before putting it on his head and getting completely soaked with water.

Mighty's eyes widened out as he mouthed _"…the hell?" _as Charmy stared at the curious sight in front of him before asking _"Hey, Mighty. Can I ask…what does someone do with a key to the city?" _Mighty looked at Charmy, confused as all hell, and replying _"I don't know, buddy. I just don't know." _before walking out of the Sparkling Emerald, quickly followed by Charmy while back at the counter, Honey had her hand over her mouth, trying her hardest not to laugh at what just happened.

_(WARNING: There__'__s quite a bit of ho yay, unintentional or not, throughout this particular part so you might wanna tread very carefully. Other than that, enjoy! - Author)_

_June 24__th__, 3pm_

_Pollyanna Park_

The streets were packed with people once again going about their usual affairs as the sun shined from the now cloud-free sky, in comparison to the rather dull weather that hit the city that morning. The traffic as well was relatively normal with a few cars driving about the place at a peaceful peace…that is except for one crazy taxi that crashed out of the massive window of the mall on the hill facing the park at a million miles an hour.

In the back of the taxi were Mighty, Espio, Charmy and Vector swaying from side to side as the driver in the front dodged and weaved around the traffic. Vector said _"__Alright, is this the place you were talkin__'__'__bout?__"_to which Mighty replied _"__Yeah, it is -oof!__"_as his face suddenly smooshed into the one of the windows.

The driver, a black Overlander in very tropical clothes, turned his head around and asked _"__So how far__'__s the Chicken Joint again, buddy?__"_to which Vector replied _"__Just another mile or so, pal! There__'__s an extra 50 for ya if you can get us there within 2 minutes!__"_The driver gave a big smile (with a little shine on it) and a thumbs up, saying _"__Can do!__"_before turning his head back to focus on driving.

However, it was too late as the taxi smashed into one of the parked cars, which flew up into the air and fell down on another car, causing that one to roll down the hill and smash into two more cars, which kept repeating until the taxi was being chased by what can only be described as an avalanche of rolling cars, trucks and anything else unlucky to wind up in its path.

The driver picked up a small walkie talkie and announced _"__Alright y__'__all, our ride may be getting a little bit bumpy but don__'__t worry __'__bout it! I__'__ll get ya to the Chicken Joint befo ya know it!__"_when one of the rolling cars rammed into the side of the taxi causing everyone in the back to flail about, which ended up with Mighty falling over on top of Espio. Mighty realized his face was really close to Espio before blushing and saying _"__Oh God, not again - AUGH!__"_as Espio punched him right on the nose.

Mighty got up, holding his nose in pain, and looked back at the complete insanity behind him and, with eyes widened out and jaw practically on the floor, asked the driver _"__Uh__…__does this sort of thing usually happen on your shift?__"_to which the driver replied _"__What, that? Eh__…__most of the time, yeah.__"_Mighty face palmed himself before he whispered to Vector _"__Why did you tell him we were going to the Chicken Joint anyways?__"_to which Vector whispered back _"__Don__'__t worry __'__bout it. When we get to the park, just follow my signal.__"_giving Mighty a wink like he was Santa Claus or something.

The taxi finally reached the bottom of the hill and took a sharp left turn, barely dodging the massive pileup of vehicles that crashed through the park. Driving past the park, Vector whispered to the rest of his team _"__Alrighty guys, ready? One, two__…__THREE!__"_as Vector suddenly opened the door and pushed everyone out, before jumping out himself, landing on a street facing the park.

On top of a big dog pile of detectives, Vector looked at the taxi as it crashed through yet another building and rubbed his head, saying _"__Thank God__…__all right then Mighty, we__'__re at the park! What do we do now?__…__Mighty? Mighty, where are you?__"_to which Mighty replied in a really muffled voice _"__Right under you, Vector.__"_

Vector got off the dog pile, saying _"__Sorry __'__bout that, bud! No hard feelings, right?__"_before he saw what he'd been seeing on and started giggling like mad. Charmy squeezed his way out of the pile and flew up to the near-hysterical Vector, asking _"__Hey Vector, what__'__s up?__"_to which Vector simply pointed towards the pile, before he and Charmy burst out laughing. Mighty lifted his head, shaking it after the mess he'd just escaped from, and asked _"__Guys, what__'__s so funny?__"_but got no reply from Vector and Charmy, who were ROFLing like madmen.

Mighty raised an eyebrow in confusion before he looked down and noticed what was up; he was lying right on top of Espio's back, doggy style! Espio lifted his head, rubbing it as he muttered something along the lines of _"__What the hell?__"_before he turned his head slightly to see Mighty, blushing like a ripe tomato with an extremely nervous smile on his face.

Espio groaned and face palmed himself, hiding a slight blush, before saying _"__Do you need another punch to explain things? Get off!__"_which Mighty immediately did, quickly saying _"__Yessir!__"_Espio got up and brushed himself down before asking Mighty _"__Well, you__'__re the one who said we should go here. Now what?__"_to which Mighty replied _"__Well, when we were kids, me and Sonic used to go to this chilli dog stand that was __'__round here. Hopefully, it__'__s still there but I__'__m not too sure; it__'__s been a few years since I was last here.__"_

Espio folded his arms and said _"__Define a few years.__"_Mighty thought about and counted with his fingers before finally replying _"__About 7 years, I think.__"_Espio immediately face palmed himself, saying _"__Well, we__'__re doomed.__"_But Vector suddenly said _"__Well, we can__'__t be too sure __'__till we try! Chaotix Crew, let__'__s find the chilli dog stand!__"_as he pointed towards the park in a very overdramatic fashion.

Mighty, Espio and Charmy stared at the over-the-top crocodile pointing in the cheesiest way imaginable before Espio folded his arms and asked _"__Vector, just who the hell do you think you are? Kamina?__"_to which Vector replied _"__Kaneda?__"_Espio closed his eyes and clenched his fists very tightly and let off a massive groan before walking off towards the park.

Vector raised an eye in confusion and asked _"__What? What did I say? What?!__"_as Mighty and Charmy crossed the street over to the park, quickly followed by Vector, who jumped over a passing car as the driver inside yelled something along the lines of _"__You flipping maniac!__"_

The three detectives quickly caught up with Espio, who asked _"__Like I said before, Mighty, exactly where is this chilli dog stand?__"_Mighty put a hand over his muzzle as he thought long and hard about this, walking back and forth in front of the Chaotix for about a minute until he finally said _"__Well, I__'__ve figured it out!__"_

"_Really?__"_Espio said, leaning on a nearby rail. _"__Alright then, where do we go now?__"_to which Mighty replied as he scratched his head _"__Well, that__'__s what I__'__ve figured out__…__I can__'__t remember where the stand is.__"_Several seconds passed in stunned silence when Espio muttered _"__Baka__…"_right before punching Mighty on the nose with such a force that a bit of blood burst out of his nose.

"_Oh God, not again!__"_Mighty shouted as he covered his nose and muzzle with his hand and screaming in pain. Vector slapped the back of Espio's head, saying _"__You moron! What the hell d__'__ya do that for?__"_, before running over to Mighty and tried (and failed) to comfort him, asking _"__Ya okay, pal?__"_ Espio folded his arms and walked toward the two, saying _"__Well, I was taught to punch anyone who was being stupid so ergo-__"_when Mighty put his blood-soaked hand down and said _"__Then how come Vector doesn__'__t have a million black eyes by now?!__"_

Vector stopped fussing upon hearing this and almost immediately, his expression of extreme worry turned into one of suspicious anger as he gave off a massive frown and his eyes looked at Mighty in suspicion as he asked _"__And exactly what__'__s that supposed to mean?__"_Mighty started scratching his head again and smiling nervously before saying _"__Well__…__to be fair, Vector, you can be a bit of an ass.__"_

"_In which he means to say,__"_Espio cut in, as his stern expression turned into a slightly cheeky one with his mouth becoming a sly grin, _"__that you__'__re an idiot. A big idiot, to be specific.__"_Vector's frown now turned into a snarl so huge you could even see a little piece of cabbage stuck right near the edge (don't ask how I know that…) and he closed his eyes very tightly as he stood there, looking like he's about to explode.

Espio shook his head, saying _"__Well, we__'__ve done it now.__"_to which Mighty asked _"__Done what?__"_Espio pointed towards the fuming crocodile that was now stamping on the floor like he was like a little kid as he said _"__Seriously, even Charmy__'__s more mature than this guy on most days__…"_ Vector shouted _"__I HEARD THAT, YA LITTLE PUNK!__"_as he finally stopped stamping and started cracking his knuckles.

"_And ya know what? You__'__re ain__'__t getting__'__ away with it and neither are you, Mighty!__"_Vector said as he started flexing his woobly wobbly arms that, to him, were muscles the size of the Master Emerald or something, _"__The both of ya are gonna get it now! You__'__ll have to take on the Great Vector!__"_Mighty scratched his head and asked _"__Shouldn__'__t we be focusing on the reason we came here?__"_to which Espio unfolded his arms and replied _"__When you get Vector to turn into__…'__that__'__, he won__'__t leave you alone __'__till you finally do something about it. And don__'__t worry, this__'__ll be over with quickly.__"_

Vector at this point was waving his chest in front of Espio, saying (really quickly) _"__Ya think ya can take me on, little man?! Well, ya can__'__t cause I__'__m Vector, which means I win! __'__Cause I__'__m kickass and am totally hot and the greatest sex machine in town!__"__ (I__'__m so sorry if that last sentence causes any nightmares __L__ - Author) _Espio simply rolled his eyes before punching Vector straight in the stomach.

Almost immediately, the once cocky croc fell to his knees, grasping his stomach in pain and gasping for air. Mighty and Espio looked down at the fallen ultimate warrior before Espio said _"__Don__'__t worry too badly about him; this happens a lot but when you figure it out, it__'__s easier to put up with.__"_Charmy flew up to the three, sniffing the air, and asked _"__Hey guys, do ya smell something?__"_

"_Well no, obviously.__"_Espio said, pointing towards his noseless muzzle, while Mighty tried sniffing the air, which wasn't as easy as you'd think since his nose was bleeding about a page and a half ago. However, as well as the stench of dried blood, Mighty detected a very familiar smell and said _"__Chilli dogs! That__'__s what it smells like!__"_Pointing triumphantly to the right of where he was standing, Mighty said _"__The chilli dog stand__'__s that way, guys! Let__'__s go!__"_before he, Espio and Charmy took off towards their goal.

Meanwhile, Vector was still on the ground, shaking in pain, as he asked _"__Why hasn__'__t someone called the paramedics yet?__"_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 16/Jan/2013_

_(Good lord, this episode has more filler in it than Dragon Ball Z. Anyways, at least the plot's starting to get a move on with most of the interesting events happening in the next two chapters._

_Anyways, the special guest mentioned in the preview at the end of Chapter 5 was indeed Sonic, who used to be Mighty's friend, according to Word of God anyways, and he shall be in the next chapter…I hope anyways since I tend to write a lot of the details as I go along, which tend to be different from my original idea for whatever reason._

_Aside from that, I'll see y'all for the next chapter, when something exciting does happen! So until then, have a great day y'all -FrDougal9000_

_P.S. What does a key to the city actually do anyways?_

_NOTE: This is also an extended cut, containing part of the next chapter, which itself will get an extra bit from the start of the final part. I just wanted the length to be more balanced, hence why I'm doing this.)_


	9. 02 First Day on the Job - 4 of 6 (RECUT)

_(WARNING: There's quite a bit of ho yay, unintentional or not, throughout this particular part so you might wanna tread very carefully. Other than that, enjoy! - Author)_

_June 24__th__, 3pm_

_Pollyanna Park_

Mighty, Espio and Charmy kept running until they found a rusty old chilli dog stand by the edge of the park, being hosted by a young looking pig wearing a slightly torn apron who was cooking (what else?) chilli dogs on the stand. Mighty pointed towards a nearby bush, which all three ran over to and ducked down.

"_Okay, so we found the stand; now what?" _Espio asked, poking his head through the bush to get a good view of the stand. Mighty replied _"Well, back then, school used to end at about 3 so we'd always come here around this time to get a bite to eat. He should be here in a few seconds." _Espio asked _"And you know this how?" _to which Mighty replied _"Believe me, when it comes to chilli dogs, Sonic will run a million miles to get just one bite."_

Espio observed the stand but no-one was there nor did it look like anyone was going to show up for quite some time. He removed his head from the bush, shaking it to get off some leaves that had found their way there and said _"To be honest, I don't think he's gonna show up. At all. It's been five minutes and there's no sign of anyone coming."_

"_Don't worry, he'll come. I know it." _Mighty said as he leaned on a nearby tree playing rock-paper-scissors with Charmy. Espio folded his arms and asked _"And if not?" _Mighty tried to think of an answer but all he could do was shrug, which resulted in Espio rolling his eyes yet again. But suddenly, a large woosh noise came from nearby and in response, the three poked their heads into the bush and looked out towards the stand.

And there he was. Sonic the Hedgehog ordering about three chilli dogs for himself. It stunned Mighty to think that after all this time, Sonic still looked pretty much the same; sure he was taller, thinner and had longer spikes than he used to but he was still the same blue chilli dog lover with a penchant for speed. However, the reminiscing was suddenly interrupted by Vector slapping the three on the back of the heads before he shouted _**"YOU IDIOTS! WHY'D YA JUST LEAVE ME THERE; ON THE GROUND, LYIN' IN PAIN?! IT COULD'A BEEN SERIOUS, YA KNOW?!" **_Mighty, Charmy and Espio removed their head from the bush and stood up as Espio replied _"Well, you weren't really helping at the time and besides, you weren't any worse off than whenever one of your dates went horribly wrong."_

"_They don't go horribly wrong." _Vector said as he folded his arms and looked away. _"They're just playing hard to get is all." _Charmy butted in, hovering around Vector and asking _"Is that why that last woman kept whacking you with her purse and spraying you with…what was it, deodorant?"_

Espio looked at Charmy and replied _"Mace, Charmy. Mace, not deodorant, though to be fair, it's probably no worse than whatever horrifying cologne this guy puts on when he's goin' out. No wonder women keep dumping" _as he prodded Vector's chest. Vector knocked Espio's hand away and said_ "Like you're a Casanova yaself!" _to which Espio replied _"Well, I'm more tolerable than you at least."_

"_In that case, why haven't you got a girlfriend?" _Vector asked, smiling a cheeky grin. Espio suddenly looked annoyed and replied _" 'Cause you know what happened the last time that happened…why even bring that up again?" _as he folded his arms and looked away, looking both annoyed yet somehow regretful about some past misfortune.

"_Um…partner?" _Mighty said, tapping Espio's shoulder. Espio looked at him and said, in a harsh voice, _"What?" _Mighty pointed towards the wide-eyed hedgehog and pig at counter, staring at the odd-ball detectives in confusion. Espio simply closed his eyes and said _"Great. Well, they know we're here; we may as well go over to them." _And with that, the four got out from behind the bush and walked over to the stand.

Mighty walked over to Sonic, waving a little salute (think Goku's wave from Dragon Ball if stuck) and said _"Hey there, it's been a long time, old pal." _Sonic stared at the black armadillo, waving a chilli dog in his hand for a few seconds, before he asked _"Um…do I know you?"_

Mighty folded his arms and said _"C'mon, don't ya remember me, Sonic? It's me, Mighty…you know, back from when we were kids? That guy who everyone thought was a crappy recolor of you?" _Sonic simply shook his head and replied _"Nope." _Mighty put his hands on his hips and leaned forward, saying _"Really? You don't remember me? Remember that time you tried setting me up with that Boobowski girl I kinda liked and I ended up getting tazed?"_

Sonic smiled nervously, scratching his head, and said _"Look, I'm sorry but I can't remember." _Mighty frowned and his posture took on a slouch as he said _"You really don't remember me? At all? You used to wear those fancy Soap shoes instead of well, whatever those are." _pointing at Sonic's red shoes that had a white stripe going down the side and golden buckles fitted on them.

Mighty folded his arms and turned around when Sonic suddenly said _"Dude! I remember ya now! Good ol' Mighty! Where ya been?" _Mighty turned back around, with a smile of joy on his face, and in celebration, the two did an overly complicated secret handshake/fist bump that I'm too damn lazy to describe in depth. (if it helps, think of the special Freedom Fighter handshake in SatAM)

Espio raised an eyebrow and asked _"Hold on? You remember him because of a pair of shoes you used to wear? What kind of friend are you that you can't remember him that well?" _However the two were so concentrated on doing their epic handshake fist bump of friendship that neither of them replied back, leading Espio to roll his eyes in disdain and mutter _"Why do I even bother sometimes?"_

Sonic and Mighty finally finished the epic celebration handshake and patting Mighty's back, Sonic asks _"Man, it's been a long time; what're doing here, anyway?" _to which Mighty pointed toward Espio, Charmy and Vector and replied _"Well, I'm working with them…or at least, for a week and I'm kicked out unless I find them a paying case."_

"_And let me guess…" _Sonic said as he folded his arms and playfully rolled his eyes while a charming grin appeared on his muzzle, _"You came to me about that robbery this morning?" _Mighty smiled in a way that looked as if he got caught and nodded.

Sonic turned around and scratched his forehead with his finger as he pondered about what to. Espio walked up to Mighty and whispered _"Have you thought about what to do if this doesn't work? I should mention that when we worked with Sonic one time before this…we completely destroyed some rich guy's house." _to which Mighty whispered back _"Umm…no." _Espio stared at Mighty with his jaw practically smashed through the ground for a few seconds before he turned around and walked back, letting off a groan so loud that it would probably wake the dead if they heard it.

Without turning back around, Sonic asked Mighty _"Why should I help?" _to which Mighty replied _"Well, you're my friend. And friends help each other out, don't they?" _Sonic turned his head partially to look back and said _"I know but…it's been a long time; I just met you for the first time in years and…I don't know if I can still trust you…so again, why should I ask for your help?" _Mighty stroked his chin as he said _"Because…um…" _His eyes darted around as he searched for some kind of reason, any kind, when he noticed the chilli dogs grilling on the nearby stand.

He lifted a finger in the air and said _"Because…you owe me a favour." _A question mark appeared above Sonic's head ala MGS (don't ask how) and he turned around, with a raised eyebrow, and asked _"A favour for what?" _Mighty nudged a thumb towards the chilli dogs and replied _"Buying those chilli dogs for ya; they've been there for a while and maybe this'll speed it up. And I know just the guy who's gonna pay for them!" _as he went over to Espio and pushed him to the stand.

Espio dodged out of Mighty's push and asked _"Hold on a minute! Why do I have to pay for them?!" _to which Mighty replied "_Firstly, you're the one who kept the change from yesterday and secondly, you were gonna have to make up for this eventually." _as he pointed toward his battered and slightly bloody nose.

Espio silently snarled at Mighty as he put his hand into his leg pocket and took some money out, muttering _"Fine…" _before he said to the pig at the stand _"Four extra chilli dogs on top of those three, please." _before giving him the money from his pocket. Sonic edged over to Mighty and whispered "_Alright, I'll help you out, but only 'cause I owe you. Just one question." _Mighty folded his arms and turned his head, asking _"And what would that be?" _Sonic let off a slightly nervous smile as he replied _"Are you and Espio an…item?" _

Immediately, both Espio and Mighty looked at Sonic with eyes as wide as a bus and dropped jaws as they shouted in unison _**"WHAT?!" **_Sonic, surprised as all hell, stepped backwards and he waved his hands in front of him, saying _"What's the big deal? It's just I saw you," _pointing towards Mighty, _"on top of him," _then pointing to Espio, _"back there in a very particular way and I thought I'd ask. So…are you two a thing?" _

Espio and Mighty yelled in unison _**"NO, WE'RE NOT!" **_with such a force that it pushed Sonic on his back. After he got up and brushed himself, Sonic muttered something along the lines of _"Jeez, you ask someone if they're going out with someone else and they go crazy on ya!"_ The pig at the stand yelled out _"They're done! Seven good lookin' chilli dogs served up and ready at go!" _

Sonic folded his arms and confidently said _"Alright guys, I'll help ya out but first, how 'bout we have some chilli dogs to eat?" _In reply, the Chaotix all said _"Yeah!"_ mostly due to not having anything to eat since this morning.Everyone couldn't help but stare at the seven wonders of the stand; seven hot dogs roasting on a grill with chilli con carne sans beans spread all over, alongside melted cheese, onions and mustard that all culminated in a gorgeous looking meal.

Sonic couldn't contain himself, panting heavily with his tongue out at the sight of seven beautiful, amazing examples of cookery, that he actually felt a little moist. Blushing slightly and nervously smiling, he turned his head to the Chaotix and asked _"Hey…do any of you guys have a towel or something?" _Wide-eyed with disgusted looks on their faces, the Chaotix and even the pig backed off in horror.

Sonic jokingly rolled his eyes and said _"Yeah, I thought not…"_

_June 24__th__, 3:45pm_

_Poloy Lane, Emerald Coast_

The afternoon sun shined down on the streets of the city, giving everything a whitish tint which could be annoying since it made the city really, really bright but it didn't block the fact that it gave the environment a very positive vibe. And this vibe could be seen as Mighty and Sonic walked down the streets, happily catching up on lost times and laughing cheerfully.

Due to the…incident that occurred earlier (or the end of the last chapter), Sonic was forced to wear a small pair of dark red shorts that the Chaotix were forced to buy, leaving them completely broke now. While Sonic found wearing shorts after years and years of near-nudity to be a bit uncomfortable, he was certainly feeling better than the three guys limping behind him and Mighty.

Espio, Vector and Charmy looked bloody awful; with completely exasperated eyes as big as bowling pins, fiercely grabbing onto their stomachs as if Xenomorphs were about to burst out and limping at a speed that even a turtle would be complaining that they're going too slow.

Mighty asked _"__So did ya ever hook up with that Acorn girl?__"_Sonic scratched his head, blushing slightly, and smiled very nervously as he said _"__Er__…"_before he giggled and looked away, noticing the three wrecked detectives, who were about 20ft away from himself and Mighty. Almost instantly, Sonic forgot about the question and looked back at the Chaotix with an annoyed look of impatience, folding his arms and tapping his left foot on the floor repeatedly as he said _"__C__'__mon guys, I__'__m waaaaaiting!__"_(_Sorry but I had to reference one of the old DiC-isms eventually - Author)_

After what seemed to Sonic like an absolute eternity, the three detectives finally limped over to himself and Mighty before promptly falling onto the floor, exhausted beyond all possible belief. Sonic rolled his eyes and sighed with an air of irritation before saying _"__Are you three gonna be like this all day? I mean, going down this far takes about__…__5 secs, not an hour!__"_

Espio put a hand on the wall and eased himself upwards, sighing heavily with a very tired expression painted all over his face as he replied _"__Well of course, you__'__re the fastest thing alive; everything feels like it can be done in 5 seconds for you, unlike us regular people who can__'__t walk a mile that damn quickly! Also, we could__'__ve gone faster if our bowels hadn__'__t been completely wrecked by those damn chilli dogs!__"_

Charmy, despite being so tired, still somehow had the energy to giggle madly which annoyed Espio, who looked toward Charmy and fiercely asked _"__What__'__s so funny?!__"_to which Charmy replied _"__You said bowels.__"_before he broke out laughing. Espio sighed wearily as he placed his hand on his forehead and squeezed it very tightly. Sonic leaned on the wall and nonchalantly shrugged, saying _"__Anyway, that always happens to chilli dog virgins; no matter how much you thought your gut can take, chilli dogs will still find a way to ruin it. Just ask Mighty if you want proof.__"_

Upon hearing that last detail, Espio smirked slightly and asked _"__Well, Mighty, is that so?__"_Mighty laughed nervously as he placed his hand around the back of his head and replied _"__Yeah__…__see, one time in school, I decided to get a chilli dog from the cafeteria for the hell of it__…__I ended up killing the toilet.__"_Espio softly chuckled as he turned his head back to the green crocodile with his face in the pavement and the young bee still laughing his head off and said _"__Think you__'__re ready to go again, guys?__"_

Vector used his arms to pushed himself up, clearly struggling as his arms kept wobbling wildly, and asked _"__That depends. How much farther do we have ta go?__"_Everyone looked at Sonic, who simply shrugged as if this wasn't a big deal and thumbed towards the building he was leaning on, which resulted in everyone else suddenly falling on the floor with their feet sticking up in the air as if this was an anime.

The building was a brown, wooden, abandoned warehouse once used to store old gaming consoles as seen with a torn, aged poster next to Sonic advertising games for some console called the Saturn (though the first word, if any, seemed to have been torn off due to a tear appearing directly above the word Saturn) and the condition of the warehouse didn't look too good. Several windows had been smashed over the years, the wood was beginning to rot and break off bit by bit and the whole building generally looked as if it was about to collapse.

Curiously, however, the front doors of the warehouse seem to have been recently replaced by a large metallic gate with all sorts of gizmos on it. Mighty scratched his chin and asked _"__So, this is where the Babylon Rogues__'__ hideout is?__"_Sonic moved away from the building and turned his head to look at it, saying _"__Apparently; it__'__s just a rumor I heard about while looking __'__round but it__'__s good a guess as any.__"_Vector got up from the ground and took a few brief stretches of his arms and legs before he said _"__Well, as long as we don__'__t have at walk any more, that__'__s fine with me! But da problem is__…__how do we get in?__"_

The five stared at the gigantic, looming steel door that blocked the entrance of the warehouse, trying to figure out what to do. Mighty said _"__I got an idea.__"_before promptly walking over to the door, cracking his knuckles along the way. He stopped and pulled on his right hand back, looking as if he was charging some kind of power into his fist, and fully charged, he was about to punch the door with a tremendous force when Espio said _"__Hold on a minute.__"_

Mighty barely stopped his fist from making contact with the door and looking at Espio with an annoyed look on his face, asked _"__What?__"_to which Espio replied, as he walked over to the door, _"__Being a detective isn__'__t all about kicking ass and taking names; sometimes, it helps to be subtle and punching the door like a Z-Fighter isn__'__t subtle. They__'__ll know someone__'__s out to get them and they might escape if they get the chance.__"_

Mighty frowned and folded his arms as he asked _"__Alright then, smart guy; what do you suggest me do?__"_Espio smirked slightly and replied _"__Simple. Let me take of it; you remember when you thought I disappeared this morning, right?__"_before his entire body started to blend in with the environment around him, with his colours and details fading and fading until it looked as if the chameleon detective had completely vanished.

Mighty, clearly startled, looked around him to see where Espio might've gone when he heard a soft jumping noise from in front of him and then noises that sounded like feet walking up the side of a building for a couple of seconds until suddenly, a noise that sounded like someone had broken part of the window. Mighty, Sonic, Vector and Charmy looked up to the smashed windows seen on the second story of the warehouse, waiting for some kind of response when a long rope fell down from one of the windows to the ground.

Vector and Sonic grabbed onto the rope and started climbing up it, eventually climbing into the window while Charmy simply took the lazy route and floated his way up to the window. Mighty stood there flabbergasted at what just happened and would've continued staying there when the rope suddenly started moving back up. Mighty quickly jumped onto the last inch of rope and grabbed onto it as tightly as he could, before climbing up at a ferocious speed, quickly saying _"__Okay, okay, I__'__m coming!__"_

Mighty finally ascended the rope and climbed over the broken window, carefully avoiding any shards of broken glass still left in the window's frame. Mighty observed his surroundings, which were simply an old room with a few unimportant boxes and Sonic, who was tapping his feet once again, Vector and Charmy, the latter two playing a mega-round of rock-paper-scissors, standing in front of him. As Mighty walked forward, the rope started pulling backwards until it curled itself up and completely vanished.

Espio quickly appeared, leaning on the wall with his arms folded and a look of serious contemplation on his face, and said _"__Alright, here__'__s the plan: you four stay here and I search through the building for anything suspicious. If something does crop up, I__'__ll come back and tell you and that same rule applies if I don__'__t find anything.__"_Mighty, still pretty startled by the chameleon'sability to vanish on a dime, raised an eyebrow and asked _"__But partner, what if something happens and you don__'__t come back?__"_

Espio scoffed in derision before saying _"__Like anyone would be able to catch me-__"_when Vector said _"__Espio__…"_as he folded his arms and frowned at him. Espio rolled his eyes and sighed, as he said _"__Alright, fine; if 15 minutes pass and I don__'__t return, or if you hear some kind of commotion, then come looking for me. Fair enough?__"_The near-silence, aside from Sonic tapping his feet in boredom once again, pretty much answered Espio's question so with an affirmative _hmm_, the chameleon once again blended in with the environment and the sounds of footsteps echoed through the room until the door behind the four slowly opened before the footsteps exited into the hallway, with the door softly closing a couple of seconds later.

An expression of doubt appeared on Mighty's face and he left out a small sigh before turning his head to Vector, who had just lost rock-paper-scissors once again, and asked _"__Hey Vec, do you think Espio__'__ll be alright?__"_Vector put his hands on wherever his hips were supposed to be (when your body doesn't really have clear sections, it's hard to tell where one part ends and another begins) and replied _"__Don__'__t worry __'__bout it, pal. As much of a dick Espio can be, I__'__ll say this much for him: the guy__'__s brilliant when it comes at subtlety and a damn good detective__…"_when he sighed wearily and mumbled something along the lines of _"…__a lot like his parents, in fact__…"_

Mighty wasn't able to hear what the crocodile had said but appreciated that Espio would hopefully be alright. His antler-ears suddenly picked up the on-going endless tapping of Sonic's foot nearby and so he walked over to the bored, blue blur and asked _"__Just curious, what were you planning to do if we didn__'__t come along?__"_Sonic folded his arms and leaned on the dirty, dark wall nearby and replied _"__Don__'__t know; I don__'__t really plan ahead. I just make it up as I go along. (Like how I write these stories - Author) Anyway, why?__"_

Mighty scratched the lower back of his head and replied _"__It__'__s just that you seem to be going along fine with this, even though I don__'__t remember you being the patient type. So__…__what are you planning on doing now that you__'__re stuck with us?__"_Sonic's eyes looked upward to the ceiling as he tried to think of an answer but after a while, he simply shrugged and said _"__Depends on what happens, I guess__…"_but when he saw a look of confusion on Mighty's face he continued, _"__Look, all I__'__m thinking is that I help you out and hope that you get the credit for solving this problem, which is easier said than done, believe me.__"_

Mighty sighed softly, leaned on the wall next to Sonic and folded his arms. A few minutes passed in silent boredom as Vector and Charmy started another game of rock-paper-scissors before Mighty shrugged and asked _"__Okay, so__…__what do we do now?__"_Watching the crocodile and bee play a simple game witch such intensity that you'd think Mozart's Requiem would be playing over the background given how epic the whole thing seemed to be, Sonic finally replied _"__Wanna join in?__"_thumbing toward the aforementioned game of true epicness. Mighty rolled his eyes and groaned slightly as he said _"__Ugh__…__fine.__"_before the two stopped leaning on the wall and walked over to Charmy and Vector to get in on the true battle of wits.

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 25/Jan/2013_

_(Thank crap, I'm finally finished with this blasted chapter. I'm sorry this took so long but for some reason, I didn't start writing it until about Monday…after uploading the last chapter on Wednesday…yeah, I'm pretty lazy._

_Not to mention that I'm pretty busy with school, working on YouTube videos and other junk like that but thankfully, we've got only one more chapter to go, where we'll finally get some action and will probably end up being really, really long._

_And yes, I'm well aware about the increased ho yay between Mighty and Espio, which I know will make someone out there vomit, but don't worry, I'm not planning on doing anything serious with that particular pairing…at least not in this fanfic…_

_Anyways, as before, tell me what you thought of this chapter and the episode so far, tell me if you have ideas of how I can improve my writing and finally, if you've got any questions about the characters or where I'm going, just ask and I'll answer to the best ability._

_Although just to avoid the big question everyone has on their minds, yes, Sonic did umm…ruin his pants. And on that note, I'll see y'all for my next chapter, the epic conclusion to Episode 2! Have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000_

_NOTE: Like with the re-upload of the previous chapter, this is an extended cut with the first part of the final part made to make up for lost time and balance the length a little better.)_


	10. 02 First Day on the Job - 5 of 6

_June 24__th__, 3:55pm_

_Old Storage Warehouse, Poloy Lane_

As quiet as a small gust of wind, as visible as a piece of really tiny dirt on a fork and as subtle as a wink or a nod; this to Espio was what it meant to be a true ninja detective, especially one blessed with the ability of invisibility. True, the rest of Espio's species had this quirk as well but as far as he knew, he was the only one among his peers who was using it properly as akin to stalking people or finding out which couples were currently…hooking up, if you get what I mean.

Espio explored the empty, desolate halls of the warehouse, opening every door subtly, peeking into every room and if there was nothing interesting, he'd just as softly close the door again before going off looking for some kind of clue that would lead him and the Chaotix to the Babylon Rogues and maybe, just maybe finally have enough money to buy some food for home instead of quick snacks.

It had been about two weeks since they were able to go shopping to any degree and Espio knew for a fact that all his food were going to expire in about three days. This made him even more determined to try win this case, making him search through the seemingly endless hallways and empty rooms faster in the hope that he'd unwittingly discover the Rogues. From there, the case would be solved….or at least it would be if it weren't for his two comrades.

Vector often was the biggest reason behind the Chaotix's constant failures, coming up with big, over-the-top ideas that only succeeded in making the three look like the Grand Troupe Idioté and more often flirting with women while on the case, and by flirting I mean trying to flirt but failing to the extent that even a rock would have better pick-up lines. Not to mention that a lot of the time, the blasted crocodile would often take jobs for free, meaning that even if a case went well, they'd still end up penniless as usual.

Charmy, while helpful in his own way due to his ability to fly, was often extremely annoying and caused as much havoc as he helped out; mostly due to his hyper-activity and tendency to get distracted by anything shiny. Espio had wondered a lot about whether Charmy was dropped on his head when he was little or if he was just born that way but he'd admit this much about the young bee; he did seem to have an idiot savant instinct, noticing some things that everyone else would overlook, which could help solve whatever case the Chaotix were tackling at the time.

However, most of these cases were relatively mundane nonsense like finding lost toys or rescuing Chao from trees, so that quirk usually went to waste. Regardless, the Chaotix hadn't done anything note-worthy in a very long time and Espio had thought about leaving many times to make his own mark on the world…so, why didn't he? Oh right, _that…_

After searching through endless hallways and finding nothing of interest, Espio finally found stairs descending to the first story. As he softly descended the staircase, he hoped that this would be what leads him to the culprits, although he kept himself reserved in case it turned out to a disappointment, as with a lot of things that happened to him…

He finally reached the first story, which basically consisted of a giant room filled with ordinary looking delivery trucks and massive amounts of wooden crates and boxes spread throughout and a staircase that lead up to a balcony that lead up to the stairs Espio just descended. He surveyed the room, looking for something, anything that would possibly get them paid, looking through the many crates and trucks spotted throughout the room but, unfortunately, he found nothing.

Espio clenched his fists in anger and disappointment and sighed very wearily, as he thought _"Nothing. Not a soul here. I can't believe it!" _He dropped the invisible guise and once again, his purple body became visible and showed a somewhat depressed expression on the chameleon's face. He began to walk back to the staircase leading up to the balcony, dreading the reaction of his comrades when he'd tell them the trut-

"_Burning Rangers! To the brand new sky we dive!"_

Espio stopped in his tracks upon hearing that tune; he remembered hearing it while browsing the interwebs a few weeks ago and wondered whether he was going crazy or if the tune was actually coming from somewhere. Seconds passed in silence, indicating that nothing was there, and so he began walking again, past one of the many trucks in that ro-

"_Burning Rangers! Running at the speed of light! Just do it! Just Burning Rangeeeeeeeeeeeeeers!"_

Espio stopped again and noticed that the sound was particularly stronger when standing next to the truck to the left of him. He heard very muffled guitars and saxophones playing from the truck and what sounded like people shouting about something or other. Intrigued, Espio went to the back of the truck and noticed that the container was wide open. He crouched down onto the floor and raised his head to peer at what was inside.

Right at the back of the massive container were four bird-like creatures surrounding a laptop that seemed to be playing some kind of video of an old game alongside some kind of mysterious program. A massive, hulking grey albatross slapped the back of the head of the young green duck typing rapidly on the laptop, saying _"You idiot! Can't ya toin that off?! Someone could be listenin' to us right nows!"_

The duck rubbed his head in pain before he angrily stared at the albatross and replied _"How's that even possible? Besides us, no-one's inside this ol' dump and besides, I need something to listen to while I'm working." _before promptly going back to typing at a million miles an hour. The albatross folded his arms and looked away, as he said _"Well…what if someone's trackin' us? Say the fuzzes or somethin' like that know what we're doin' and come here?"_

The duck kept focusing on the laptop as he typed in some kind of encryption code, saying _"Well, that's why I'm doing this; if I can hack this, we'll be able to get what we need and they won't even know what hit them. We'll be able to get off scot free!" _A nearby young-looking green hawk with utterly ridiculous hair clad in sports gear crouched down near the duck and asked _"How far are you into this?" _to which the duck replied _"I think I'm just about half done; give me another three minutes and I'll have hacked it."_

The hawk smiled rather grimly, saying _"Good." _before rising back up and leaning on one of the container walls, nearby another comrade, a violet female swallow also clad in sporting gear who, like the hawk and albatross, was wearing a pair of nonsensical looking sunglasses as if they were doing Persona 4 cosplay. The swallow stared out towards the exit of the container in serious contemplation, before saying _"I don't think we're alone." _

The albatross, duck and hawk immediately stopped whatever they were doing and looked straight at her, saying in unison _"Say what?!" _The swallow said _"I think we have a spy amongst our midst…" _before she got off the wall and walked towards the exit.

Espio noticed the swallow getting closer and closer to where he was and quickly crawled under the truck to avoid detection. Seconds passed as her feet clanged repeatedly off the steel floor of the container until she jumped down and observed her surroundings. It seemed that nothing was there and she turned around, about to get back inside the container when she noticed a strange yellow horn protruding from under the truck.

She crouched down and noticed the purple chameleon curled up in a ball underneath the truck. Her normally emotionless mouth turned into a devilish smile as she said _"Well, hello there, stranger." _It was at that point Espio realised what he had done…or more to the point, what he hadn't done; _he'd forgotten to go invisible. _The frustrated chameleon would've face palmed himself at this point but he was interrupted by the swallow grabbing his horn _(…holy hell, that sounds so wrong - Author) _and dragging him out from under the truck.

She hoisted him up in the air in front of her allies and said _"Lookee what I found today, boys!" _The boys turned their heads around and at first, their eyes widened at this surprise spy but after a few moments, their expressions became much more devilish as they grinned cheekily. All Espio could do was sigh wearily, muttering something along the lines of _"Baka, baka, baka…"_

_June 24__th__, 4:10pm_

_Unknown Room, Old Storage Warehouse_

It was an epic battle of wits; the final round of the most glorious bout of rock-paper-scissors ever seen on Mobius; it all came down to a final showdown between Sonic and Charmy. They raised their arms and then lowered them thrice and on the final lowering, they released their epic weapons; Sonic unleashed a pair of deadly scissors but Charmy counter-attacked by releasing a powerful, humungous rock that completely obliterated Sonic's scissors.

"_YES! YES! YEEEEEESSSSS! I BEAT SONIC THE FRICKIN' HEDGEHOG AT RPS! I'M THE COOLEST!" _the young bee excitedly shouted as he flew around the room, waving around the double V-sign in victory. Sonic jokingly feel onto the floor, mockingly saying _"Oh no, you've beaten me. Argh!" _as he chuckled at the ridiculousness of this whole business. However, he noticed the pretty worried looking armadillo sitting next to him and he turned over on his stomach and asked _"Hey Mighty, what's up?"_

Mighty stared at the door with a look of serious concern on his face and sighed heavily before he replied _"I guess I'm just worried about Espio is all. I don't have a watch so lord knows what time it is…but it seems that he's been gone too long." _Sonic got back up and sat next to Mighty, patting him on the back as he said _"Don't worry, buddy. I'm sure he'll be alright." _However, it didn't seem to lift the armadillo's mood at all since he still wore a mask of worry on his face.

Nearby, Vector was looking out the window with his arms folded, listening to his old favourite 'Sonic Boom' on his headphones. He'd gotten bored of playing RPS with Charmy over and over and wanted to take a break from reality for just a little while. However, he couldn't escape it completely since Espio's absence was also gnawing at his mind; throughout all the years he'd known the chameleon, Espio wasn't the type to miss on an arrangement that he or anyone else had made. It had been 20 minutes and he had not returned, with or without information…or at all, come to think of it. Clearly, something was up.

The crocodile turned off his headphones and turned around to face the rest of his team, saying _"Something's up guys, I know it. C'mon, we gotta find Espio." _before walking towards the door and opening it up. He passed through the door, quickly followed by an ecstatic Charmy, Sonic and Mighty and the four walked through the halls, trying to find where Espio might've gone.

After some time that involved getting lost, bickering about which direction they should go and so on, they finally found a set of stairs leading down to a balcony overlooking a large room filled with trucks and endless, undelivered crates. However, this time, the room was in complete darkness so nobody could see anything…that is until a spotlight mysteriously appeared in the middle of the room, shining down on a captured Espio, tied to a chair with his mouth duck-taped.

"_Partner!" _Mighty shouted as he jumped down from the balcony while Vector reached his hand towards him and said _"Wait up! It might be a tra - oh, forget it!" _before he, Sonic and Charmy jumped down as well. Mighty ran towards the imprisoned chameleon, bumping into many objects along the way due to the aforementioned darkness before he finally reached Espio.

Mighty untied Espio and ripped off the tape covering his mouth, which allowed him to say _"Anta baka? Don't you know that this is a trap?!" _Sonic, Charmy and Vector finally caught up when suddenly four voices shouted in unison _"FREEZE!" _and with that, the lights for the room suddenly turned back on. It was at this point the five noticed that they were surrounded by the four bird-like creatures from earlier on, wielding laser blasters.

The Chaotix stepped backwards, taking on defensive stances, to each other, so that they stood in a very close circle facing outwards in case of an attack as the green hawk slowly walked forward, towards Sonic, wielding the blaster in a way that looked like he wouldn't think twice about shooting them and then stopped just a few feet away from Sonic before saying _"It's been a while, Sonic the Hedgehog…didn't think we'd be meetin' again so soon, did ya?" _Sonic playfully shrugged and chuckled, saying _"Yeah, long time no see, Jet."_

Mighty, standing to directly behind Sonic, turned his head around and asked _"Hold up, you've met these guys before?" _to which Sonic cheerfully replied _"Yep; guys, meet the Babylon Rogues, the guys you're looking for. Rogues, meet the Chaotix Crew…the guys who're gonna kick bubblegum and chew your asses!"_

Almost like a flash, the four Rogues dropped their offensive stance, lowering their blasters, and stared at the Chaotix and Sonic with eyes as wide as the trucks that surrounded them and jaws that practically dropped right through the ground for several seconds before breaking down in laughter.

Jet was laughing in a hysterical, almost scary fashion, losing his breath with each exhale of laughter; the swallow folded her arms as she had a manic chuckle while the albatross and duck rolled around on the floor laughing their asses off as if they were watching the funniest TV show in the world.

Taking a few breaths to try compose himself, Jet somewhat-hysterically asked _"Seriously?! Those guys?! The idiots that helped destroy the mayor's house that one time?!" _as he waved his blaster towards the four detectives around Sonic, _"Honestly, if this is some kind of joke, then you've earned my respect. Just imagine it: Sonic the Hedgehog! The fastest thing alive…debatable but definitely the world's greatest comedian!" _before laughing once again.

Sonic exited his defensive stance and stood confidently, folding his arms and grinning in a manner that was unusually calm, as he said _"I ain't jokin', actually." _Almost instantly, the Rogues stopped laughing upon hearing this and froze in place. _"I'm not the one taking you in, that'll be up to them this time 'round." _Sonic continued as he thumbed toward his allies. The Rogues stood in place for several moments in an attempt to seriously comprehend this until Jet cockily shrugged and said _"Kinda surprising, I'll have to admit but there's just one prob; you guys are unarmed. We, on the other hand," _as the Rogues once again took aim with their blasters, ready to fire at any moment, _"are locked and loaded."_

Espio observed his surroundings in an attempt to find any possible opportunities that could be taken but at that point, there wasn't anything they could do, so for now, he just whispered _"They do have a fair point. Any ideas, guys?" _to which Mighty, Sonic, Vector and Charmy unanimously replied _"Nope!" _Espio sighed softly and said _"Well, we're done for now." _

"_Just one question." _Vector, standing to Sonic's left, asked the Rogues as he lifted a finger in the air like a puzzle-solving professor, _"Just exactly what are you up to?" _Jet kept the blaster aimed at Sonic and replied _"Well, since you're not really in a good position right now, I guess I can spill the beans; it's not you're gonna live to tell anyone, right? (Then what am I supposed to do from now on?! - Author) Wave, you tell 'em." _as he looked at the violet swallow to his left.

Wave, keeping a tight finger on the blaster's trigger, calmly said _"Alright; the thing is, we're planning on going on a massive nationwide tour, with one catch: that we rob every bank we come across. Problem is, robbing banks is such a pain when you're caught on camera and there's also the issue of getting caught by the police so what we needed was something to bypass that. That's where Bean came in." _Sonic asked in a slightly amused fashion _"Bean?!" _to which the duck, clearly annoyed, replied _"That would be me; Bean the Dynamite Duck. The tech guy…and Jet's cousin, to boot."_

"_Anyways," _Bean continued, _"I'm really good with computers so the Rogues asked me to try hack into the government network and allow them to get inside the banks and take what they want without any worries. I just needed to get into a government-connected computer to start from there plus some bailing money in case things go wrong so…" _Sonic scratched his muzzle and replied _"So that explains the bank robbery this morning…"_

"_Exactly!" _Bean replied, confidently folding his arms and smiling cockily, _"That's what the robots on the news were for; they could automatically hack into one of the bank computers in a matter of seconds with transmissions via their eye sensors and I took over from there." _Vector, his mouth turning into a very vague smile, replied _"You're a clever little buzzard, I gotta admit. But there's just one other thing I'm wonderin' 'bout; are ya done with the hacking or what?"_

"_Oh, that's easy." _Bean explained, _"The hacking itself is done but I just need to upload the right data to make sure things work out. In fact, my laptop's uploading it right now!" _Vector said _"Right…well, that's all I needed to hear." _Sonic turned his head to his left and whispered _"Vector, what are you up to?" _to which the crafty croc slyly replied _"Just how to get us outta this mess." _

Mighty looked behind him and said _"Vector, I don't want to toot your horn (while Charmy LOLed at this metaphor) but there's a problem; they have blasters…we don't." _Vector's slight smile turned into a full on grin as he replied _"Don't worry. I've got a good idea for a distraction." _to which Espio cut in and asked _"Which would be…?"_

"_Hey guys!" _Vector shouted out as he suddenly grabbed for Sonic's short, dark red, moist shorts and ripped them off with an intense force. _"Sorry, but we've got work to do so take this gift as an apology!" _the croc continued as he threw the incredibly moist shorts into Jet's face, causing him to drop his blaster and stagger back in horror, yelling _"Oh God, all I see is sweat and somethin' salty and horrible! Wave, Storm, anybody! Get these stupid pants offa me!"_

As Wave and the albatross dropped their blasters and rushed over to Jet to remove the foul remains of a chilli dog wet dream, Sonic and the Chaotix quickly took their opportunity and ran like hell, passing several trucks and stacks of crates, while being followed by Bean. Vector said _"Alright guys, we gotta find that dynamite kid's laptop. Espio! Any idea where it is?"_

Espio, softly but quickly putting one foot in front of the other and a hand with two fingers drawn out in front of him like a ninja heading into battle against impossible odds, replied _"Of course; follow me." _He turned left at the next gap in the trucks and everyone else followed, with Sonic lightly jogging so he wouldn't outrun the detectives, and eventually they reached the truck with the open container and right at the back, there it was: the laptop used to hack the network and the one currently uploading important data.

"_Alrighty then, let me take care of this." _Vector said as he climbed into the container, ran over to the back and picked up the laptop, closing down the top part onto the bottom part. He walked back to his allies with the laptop safely under his arm as he said _"Okay, here's the plan; we get this down to da police station and they'll take care of it from there. How's that?" _Espio folded his arms and replied _"It works but how're we gonna get paid then?"_

"_Don't worry 'bout it!" _Sonic enthusiastically said, giving Espio another one of his trademark thumbs ups that he'd gotten from watching too many Happy Days reruns, _"When this is done and over with, I'll pay ya! I got some spare cash lyin' around." _Espio, cringing slightly from the sheer cheesiness of the thumbs up he was getting, asked _"Define some spare cash."_

Sonic quickly counted with his fingers for a few moments before finally saying _"A couple thousand, I think." _And like that, Charmy, Vector and Espio very temporarily fainted from shock upon hearing this before the first two quickly came back to life with big grins on their faces and giant money signs flashing in their eyes. Mighty watched in confusion before he looked at Sonic and asked _"…Does this usually happen?"_

Sonic shrugged and replied _"Pretty much. I don't see what the big deal is; when you're known just about everywhere, you tend to end up with more money than you need." _As he watched Vector and Charmy jumping and singing something along the lines of _"We're in the money; we're in the money…" _Sonic began wondering if this whole day was turning into some sort of crazy pot dream.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a blaster being loaded and quickly turned around and ran for the mysterious figure hiding in the crates behind him and Mighty, punching the strange person's lights out. This strange person, lying on the floor with little spirals in his eyes and his tongue flopping out of his mouth, turned out to be Bean, who had been following them for the last few minutes.

Mighty, hearing the noise as well, quickly ran over behind the crates to find Sonic standing over the unconscious Bean and asked _"Sonic, what's going on?" _to which Sonic turned his head and calmly replied _"We're being followed. We need to get outta here before the Rogues catch up with us." _Suddenly, the both of them heard footsteps close to them and quickly ran to the other side of the crates and leaned on them.

A distant voice that sounded suspiciously like Storm echoed _"Guys, look over heres; it's Bean!" _The footsteps ran over to the unconscious duck lying behind Sonic and Mighty, getting louder and louder until they stopped. A female voice said _"They must be around here somewhere. I know it." _Espio had just woken up from his brief faint and asked _"What's going on?" _when Sonic suddenly put a finger on his own mouth, silently telling Espio to keep quiet. Vector had recovered from his little happy hour and was about to say something when Espio immediately closed the crocodile's jaw with his hand.

Mighty turned his head to Sonic and nervously mouthed _"What do we do know?" _Sonic stroked his muzzle with his hand for a few seconds until an exclamation mark appeared over his head and mouthed to Mighty _"I've got an idea."_ And with that, he turned around and started pushing the crates, though not doing a very good job given how massive they were. Mighty suddenly got the hint, turning around and helped Sonic push the crates. It worked at the massive stack fell over onto the Babylon Rogues, leaving them stuck under the pile of crates to their surprise.

Sonic turned around, saying _"Alright, now…RUN!" _as he suddenly started running for the door, quickly followed by Mighty, Espio and Vector carrying the laptop with a now sleeping Charmy on his shoulders. The Babylon Rogues had just gotten out of the pile of crates and noticing the Chaotix running away, Jet angrily pointed towards them with his blaster and yelled _"Blast them! Don't let those f% $ers get away!"_

The three Rogues started firing at the Chaotix, who frantically dodged the laser blasts, just barely avoiding getting hit. However, there was a big problem the detectives were about to face; the gigantic, mechanical door looming in front of them. As they ran towards it, Espio asked _"How the hell are we gonna get past that door? It's damn near impossible for us to get through that thing as it is!" _to which Mighty replied _"Well, it's not completely impossible then." _and promptly turned around to pick up one of the crate stacks around him.

He lifted it up with virtually no effort and ran towards the door, carrying the massive stack above him, and with all his might, threw it at the door with such a force that it smashed right through it, leaving a great big hole in the wall. He and the Chaotix ran out from the massive hole and promptly turned left, running down the street as Vector said _"Alright boys, to the police station and step on it!" _as many onlookers stared at what just happened.

Jet and Wave caught up to the hole in the door and looked around, finding no-one but several people staring at them. Jet angrily sighed and punched the wall, yelling _"DAMMIT! YEOUCH!" _as his fist throbbed in complete pain. Wave threw the laser blaster away as she said _"Looks like we won't be able to catch in time. Still, it's not like they've found anything to get us screwed."_

That particular irony would soon be pointed out by Storm, who ran up to Jet and Wave with a knocked out Bean in his arms and said _"Guys, we have a problems; I just checked the truck the laptop was in. They've stolen its."_ Jet, fuming with anger over his throbbing fist, getting crusted underpants thrown right in his face and now the laptop being stolen, screamed in pure agony and stomped towards the trucks.

Wave, with a confused yet concerned look on her face, asked _"Jet, where are you going?" _Jet continued to stomp in silence before he reached one of the trucks, one that was coloured jet black unlike the other grey trucks around it, and climbed in. Luckily, the keys were still in the ignition and upon turning them, the engine came to life and the truck's headlights turned on. Wave and Storm stared at the truck in confusion when the horn suddenly went off and Jet looked out from one of the windows in the front, saying _"Ya comin' or what? We got ourselves a laptop to get back!"_

**To be concluded…**

_Message from the Author - 10/Feb/2013_

_(Okay, I wasn't expecting it to go on for longer but the page count for this chapter got a little out of hand, so I decided just to cut it in half and post up the second half later. _

_A little odd that I've been doing this episode for nearly a month but rest assured I'm nearly done and the next episode should be more exciting or at least better._

_Again, tell me what you thought and if I could make any improvements to my writing style. I'll see y'all next time for the epic conclusion. Have a great day y'all - FrDougal9000)_


	11. 02 First Day on the Job - 6 of 6

_(WARNING: Some yaoi overtones detected in this chapter, because I know how much you all love it! Enjoy! XD - Author)_

_June 24__th__, 4:20pm_

_Twoson Avenue, Emerald Coast_

The Chaotix were running down the endless hills that made up this town as fast as they possibly could; Sonic had his arms stretched out behind him as if he was an aeroplane that had somehow grown legs and was running at a speed that meant he didn't overtake his allies, Espio softly ran with two fingers cast out in front of him like he was a spectacular ninja running into battle, Mighty had his arms confidently going back and forth with every step he took and Vector was running in an odd way looking as if he was about to collapse from exhaustion, though this was mostly because of the laptop he was carrying under his arm and the little bee who had fallen asleep on the crocodile's shoulders.

Espio asked _"__How far is it to the police station at this point?__"_to which Vector, who had begun panting at this point, replied _"__About another kilometre or so__…__I think.__"_As the four ran through the streets, Sonic heard what sounded like the distant echo of a truck horn going off and faint noise of a large metallic object crashing onto the ground over and over. Feeling a bit nervous, Sonic asked as calmly as he could muster _"__Uh__…__guys, do you hear something__…__odd?__"_to which he ended up with a unanimous reply of _"__Nope!__"_from everyone else.

As the four continued to run, the noises seemed to grow louder and come closer and closer and soon, all of them noticed, with Vector voicing what everyone was thinking by saying _"__Holy crap! What the hell is that noise?!__"_And, as if to answer his question, a gigantic black truck flew off from the hill above and hit the ground with a great amount of ferocity, driving towards the Chaotix with the intent of turning them into the biggest pile of road-kill the town had ever seen. Sonic, Mighty, Espio and Vector stopped, looked back and stared at the massive thing for a few seconds before Vector said _"__Oh, that__…__RUN!__"_

And with that, the four began running faster and faster to avoid the truck catching up to them. However, it was in vain as the truck caught up within seconds and it was now possible to see who was in the front cabinet of the truck; Jet was driving with a downright psychotic look on his face as he grinned demonically and one of his eyes kept twitching while Wave, Storm and a K.O.'ed Bean sat to the left of the crazy hawk, the former two looking determined albeit concerned for their comrade Rogue.

Sonic and Vector looked back to see how close the truck was and realized that the bumper was less than 15ft away from them. Their eyes widened out in shock and Mighty, looking back and noticing how close they were to getting screwed, nervously asked _"__Oh God! What do we do now?!__"_Meanwhile, Espio was keeping calm; he knew that the truck must've been pretty close but he also knew that someone had to keep a level head to stop things from getting out of hand.

As he and his comrades desperately tried to run away from the enormous truck of death, Espio's eyes darted around his surroundings to find any possible solution when suddenly, he noticed a wide open entrance with a sign above it saying 'Mobius Mall' about 50ft ahead of him. He turned his head towards the others and calmly said _"__Guys, on my signal, we go left.__"_and as soon as they were within 15ft of the entrance, he thumbed toward it and they all turned left and ran into the mall, just barely avoiding being run over by the truck.

Inside the truck, Jet angrily whacked the steering wheel as he shouted _"__DAMN IT!__"_He stayed silent for several seconds while still driving the truck when he suddenly said _"__Screw it!__"_and sharply turned left, heading straight for a nearby building. Realising what he was planning, Wave reached over for the steering wheel and tried to force it out of the way, saying _"__Jet, stop it! Are you trying to get us killed or something?__"_

Jet put one hand over Wave's face and pushed her back, saying _"__I don__'__t give a damn about that; they__'__re not getting away with that laptop. No matter what.__"_with yet another frighteningly disturbing grin plastered on his face. Storm caught Wave in his arms and looked at her for a few seconds, before blushing and nervously looking away, muttering _"__W-well, we__'__re dead.__"_

Inside the mall, Mighty, Espio and Vector with a snoozing Charmy on his shoulders were sitting down on a nearby bench, just under a massive glass awning on the ceiling above, panting heavily from exhaustion while Sonic nonchalantly leaned on a nearby pillar. Sonic looked over to the Chaotix and chuckled slightly, as he said _"__Well, that was a let-down.__"_Mighty put an arm over the bench, turned his head to look at Sonic and tiredly asked _"__What do ya mean __'__a let-down__'__?__"_

Sonic smiled and shrugged, saying _"__Usually, when something like that happens, it goes on for a bit longer and would__'__ve ended more epically than what did happen.__"_Mighty stared at Sonic in confusion for several seconds before he asked _"__Are you masochistic?__"_Vector, finally gathering enough of himself to keep going, got up from the bench and said to no-one in particular _"__Alright guys, we gotta finish what we started and get the laptop to the police station, which if I__'__m right is about another half-kilometre to go. You guys ready?__"_

Sonic got off from the pillar and did some brief body stretches as he said _"__Yep!__"_Mighty sighed softly and stood up, saying _"__Yeah, I guess.__"_And finally, Espio stood up, folded his arms and nodded with an affirmative _"__Mmm.__"_Vector grinned in satisfaction and pointed toward the exit just to his left, saying _"__Alright Chaotix Crew, to the police station!__"_

Sonic and Vector took off for the exit of the mall and Mighty was about to catch up when he noticed that Espio was standing still, looking towards a nearby flower shop with a look of contemplation yet showing hints of feelings of sorrow and regret about some past event. Mighty walked over to Espio and put his hand on the chameleon's shoulder, asking _"__Hey partner, what__'__s up?__"_

Espio's eyes darted toward Mighty and after a moment, removed Mighty's hand from his shoulder and said _"__It__'__s nothing of your concern. And by the way, stop calling me __'__partner__'__.__"_Espio walked off towards the exit of the building and Mighty was about to start walking when he noticed what looked like a massive black metal box falling towards the glass awning that Espio was currently under.

Realising that the massive box was actually the truck from earlier and what was about to happen, Mighty ran over to Espio, yelling _"__ESPIO! LOOK OUT!__"_and pushed the chameleon and himself out of the way right before the truck crashed through the glass awning and started driving for the exit.

Sonic and Vector were waiting outside, wondering what was taking Mighty and Espio so long, and looked back to see if they had shown up but instead saw a gigantic truck heading towards them. Sonic and Vector's eyes widened out and they screamed as they ran away from the exit, which was quickly broken through (along with a large portion of the wall around it) by the truck. Sonic and Vector ran for their lives towards the police station as the truck started chasing them again.

Meanwhile, back inside the mall, Mighty was able to get Espio away from the truck but the impact of the push along with the shock generated from the truck slamming onto the floor had disoriented him for a few minutes. When he came to, he looked around him and noticed that somehow, he had pushed Espio and himself into the flower shop from earlier. Not only that, but when he looked down, he realised he was lying on top of Espio in a very, very compromising way.

Espio, waking up from a similar disorientation, looked up at the blushing armadillo lying on him in a certain manner, then looked around his surroundings and realised that they were in the flower shop, _while romantic music was playing in the background!_ Noticing the extremely over-the-top yaoi overtones, Espio face palmed himself and groaned _"__Oh God! I hate the writer!__"_When he removed his hand from his face, Espio noticed that Mighty was still lying on him, smiling nervously and blushing like a ripe tomato.

Mighty's face was very close to Espio's and although he himself started to blush, he took his mind of it by bitterly saying _"__Do you actually enjoy this or something? GET OFF!__"_Mighty, realizing this, nonchalantly got up as he said _"__Oh right. Sorry.__"_and chuckled as if this didn't really faze him. Espio got up and brushed himself down, as he told Mighty _"__Frankly, I__'__m getting sick of the ship teasing but thank you anyways. However, we have a big problem; how are we gonna catch up with that truck?__"_

Mighty stroked his chin with his hand, pretending that he had a beard of some sort or at least a furry muzzle instead of a skin-like one, for a few seconds before he said _"…__How __'__bout we just get a taxi?__"_Espio slightly threw his arms in the air and replied _"__Sure, why not?__"_The two exited the flower shop and, carefully avoiding the damage caused by the truck, exited through the giant gaping hole in the wall that was formally a door.

They ran out onto the road and started calling out for a taxi for about a minute when a familiar yellow taxi crashed out from the second floor of the mall behind them and promptly fell on Mighty. Squashed under the taxi, Mighty yelled in pain _"__**AAAAAGHHHH! IS THIS BUTT MONKEY BUSINESS EVER GONNA STOP?!**__**"**___Espio tried to pull out Mighty from under the wreckage and after a few seconds of difficult effort, he finally succeeded.

Meanwhile, the driver of the taxi had rolled down a window and popped his head out to see the damage when he recognized the chameleon and the run over armadillo just as they recognized him; he was the black Overlander in very tropical clothes from Chapter 8 (or part 3 of 5). Mighty and Espio shouted in shocked unison _"__You again?!__"_to which the driver angrily replied _"__I should be saying that to you! Do you realize how much gas I wasted driving around town for the last hour or so __'__cause I thought I lost ya?! I mean, it__'__s one thing to ditch a guy without saying so, but it__'__s another thing altogether when you don__'__t even bother to pay me! Seriously, how cheap are you?!__"_

"_What about running me over like some kind of ruined pizza?__"_Mighty cut in, ignoring the driver's question, _"__If it wasn__'__t for my shell, I could__'__ve been killed!__"_he said as he pointed towards the massive red shell covering his head and most of his back. The driver, getting even more furious, slammed his fist on the window sill and replied _"__Well sorry, I didn__'__t see ya on the way down but still, you could__'__ve paid me before jumping out!__"_

Espio, realizing how much of a waste of time this argument was, quickly cut in as he sternly said _"__And we will pay you; for everything, the gas, what we were supposed to pay, everything. But we need a favour: there__'__s a jet black truck crashing through the city chasing a blue hedgehog and a green crocodile in a trench coat. We need to catch up to it but we__'__re not fast enough. So, will you help us?__"_

The driver repeatedly tapped his fingers off the steering wheel in rhythmic fashion as he thought about this for a few seconds. Finally, he breathed out through his nose and replied _"__Alright fine, but keep in mind that this is going on your bill too.__"_Espio shrugged and said _"__Fair enough.__"_ as he and Mighty climbed into the back seat of the taxi.

As he sat down and put on his seatbelt, Mighty whispered _"Espio, we're broke, remember? How're we gonna pay him?" _thumbing toward the driver in the front seat, gleefully starting up the taxi's loud, magnificent engine and turning on the radio to play his favourite Offspring album. Espio smirked and folded his arms as he replied _"Don't worry; Sonic said he'll pay us when he complete this case, right? We'll just use some of the money to pay the guy back. Oh, and by the way, keep your seatbelt off. It'd be quite the hindrance considering what my plan is."_

Mighty raised an eyebrow in confusion as he asked _"And your plan is…?" _Espio devilishly chuckled and said _"You'll see." _And with that, the driver kickstarted the taxi and drove off towards the wherever the truck may be as fast as the taxi could possibly go, which happened to be just short of light speed.

_(If you want an appropriate soundtrack for this next scene, this might help: __ watch?v=0V1gBe26SGY__)_

_June 24__th__, 4:29pm_

_Hill Top Lane, Emerald Coast_

Even though he didn't want to admit it, Sonic was feeling absolutely ecstatic as the jet black truck determinedly chased him and Vector down the massive hill. He couldn't help it; he thrived on thrills as life threatening as this and it really did brighten up what had been a relatively dull, if very odd, day. Sure, all he had to do was trip up even a little if he wanted to become deader than disco but hey, that just made the chase all the more fun.

As the hedgehog cheerfully sped down the hill, he asked the crocodile running alongside him _"Hey Vector, how far away's the police station?" _to which after a few seconds Vector replied _"It's at the end of this hill, I think. Don't worry, we're nearly there!"_ As they continued to run down away from the massive machine, Sonic noticed that Vector was beginning to get exhausted again as he began panting like a starving dog in front of a giant pile of meat. This wasn't good; if anything upped the ante, they might get screwed.

However, the crazy hawk driving the truck also noticed this and grinning psychotically, he pulled down a walkie-talkie of some sort and announced to the two victims he was chasing _"__**Hey guys, did you ever wonder why this was the only truck that was coloured differently from the rest?…No? Well, allow me to show ya why!**__" _And with that, he pressed a special button on the side of the steering wheel and suddenly, three massive buzz saws popped out from the back of the truck and lowered down towards Sonic and Vector, who stared at it

After a few seconds passed, one of the buzz saws fell right to the ground and started chasing Vector. As it came closer, Vector started running faster and faster, yelling (very quickly) _"__**Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh Goooooooooddddddd!**__" _The buzz saw came within inches of chopping off Vector's tail when it suddenly rose back up as another buzz saw went down to try get Sonic, who was cheerfully smiling and easily keeping ahead of the buzz saw.

Sonic started laughing from pure joy and asked _"C'mon you stupid buzz saw, can't you keep up?!" _while Vector just stared at the hedgehog in pure bewilderment. Sonic jokingly slowed down so that he came within mere inches of the buzz saw before gleefully increasing his speed as the buzz saw rose back up. Sonic laughed again and looked back at the truck, cheekily sticking his tongue out at Jet, who was fuming at how easily the hedgehog was toying with him.

Jet's grin had turned into a ferocious snarl as he reached for the laser blaster on the seat beside him and threw it at Storm, who just barely caught it. Storm, confused at this whole ordeal, asked _"Uh…Jet, what's going ons?" _The hawk kept his eyes focused on running down Sonic as he angrily said _"If that spiky bastard wants a real challenge, then I'm gonna give it to him!"_ Storm, as well as Wave, just stared in confusion and concern at the young hawk for a few seconds until the hawk glanced over at Storm and harshly said _"Well, what are ya waiting for? Open the window and start shooting at them!"_

Storm sighed wearily and replied _"Okays, just calm down, will yas?" _He rolled down the window on his side, took aim and started firing laser blasts at Sonic and Vector. The first blast hit the back of Vector's trench coat, singeing it to a crisp. This caused Vector to try run even faster than he already was and clearly, this was doing nothing but making the poor crocodile even more exhausted.

Storm then tried to catch Sonic out by firing several laser blasts as another buzz saw lowered down to attack him but the blue blur gleefully dodged and weaved out of the way as the blasts got near him and ended up hitting the ground. He looked back at the truck and proudly announced _"Yeah, that's more like it! Keep it coming, guys!"_

Wave grabbed the blaster from Storm as she said _"Let me give it a shot." _She leaned out from the window and started firing laser shots more accurately but unfortunately, Sonic just kept dodging them, sidestepping left and right, jumping over the shots aimed for the ground to catch him out and avoiding the giant buzz saw trying to cut him in two, all the while laughing in pure joy.

Wave pulled the trigger but all that came out of the blaster this time was a click noise. She tried again and again but nothing would come out of it. She retreated from the window and took a look at the blaster, saying _"Damn thing's jammed!" _Meanwhile, Sonic had his arms folded and a disappointed look on his face as he dodged the buzz saw yet again. He looked back and obnoxiously asked _"C'mon, where'd the blasts go? I was having the time of my life here and now, you've wrecked it!"_

Vector, getting irritated at how Sonic was acting, angrily asked _"Will ya stop it?! We're barely survivin' as it is…I'm barely survivin', anyways. I dunno if I can keep this up…" _as his heavy panting became even heavier and he placed a hand over part of his chest and gripped on it tightly. He chuckled in a very bittersweet manner and said _"Think I've got a stitch…we're dead."_

Meanwhile, about a few hundred feet away, a familiar yellow taxi was plummeting down the road at what was damn-near close to light speed, quickly followed by another giant avalanche of cars, vans and all manner of unlucky vehicles (one of which suspiciously resembled the GadgetMobile). The driver in front eyed the jet black truck down below as he asked _"Is that the truck you're lookin' for?"_

Espio rolled down the window as he replied _"Yep, that's it. Just get close enough to it and we'll take care of things from there." _The driver gave another thumbs-up and said _"Can do." _before going back to focusing on avoiding the giant landfall of endless vehicles and trying to get close to the dangerous looking truck down below.

Espio started to climb out of the window and onto the roof of the taxi as Mighty watched in confusion and worry before asking _"Is this that plan you were on about?…Espio?" _Espio ignored him and finished climbing onto the roof, reply pretty much answering his question so he also rolled down the window, mumbling _"Fine then; let's try it."_ and climbed out onto the roof.

Mighty stood up on the roof and left a little off-balance, which was quite understandable given that he was trying not to fall off the roof of a taxi driven by a certifiably insane driver that was dodging loads of falling cars and vans. After a few seconds, he regained his balance and proceeded to ask Espio _"Okay, so now what do we do?" _to which Espio, keeping an offensive stance, replied _"We wait 'till we get near the truck, then we jump on the container and try anything to delay the truck long enough for Vector to get that laptop to the proper authorities."_

Mighty rolled his eyes in slight derision and sarcastically replied _"Yeah, that sounds pretty simple. Nothing'll go wrong there." _Espio simply kept his stance, mumbling _"Baka…" _as the taxi swerved around the road, getting closer and closer to the truck until it was in parallel to it.Mighty held his arms and torso back andEspio tightened his stance as he said _"Alright, ready…JUMP!" _And with that, he and Mighty jumped over onto the truck and landed rather successfully on the container, with a noticeably loud thud.

Inside the truck, the three Rogues over heard the loud thud and Jet nodded his head toward the roof as he said _"Storm, take care of it." _Storm silently nodded and climbed out the window while Wave continued fixing the blaster and Jet driving like a flipping maniac. Storm was able to get onto the roof of the truck and after that, onto the container, where he found Mighty and Espio ready and waiting. Storm punched one fist with the other as he said _"Youse wanna get to Jet, youse gotta get through me foist!" _as he smiled a devilish grin before charging toward Mighty and Espio.

He ran towards Mighty and swung his arm out at the armadillo, who rolled under it and turned around to deliver a roundhouse kick to the albatross' face. He staggered back in pain, holding a hand to where he'd been kicked, before running over to Espio and performed a low kick, intending to trip the chameleon. However, Espio was able to jump over the kick and counter-attacked with an upwards kick to Storm's chin, knocking out one of his teeth.

Storm fell on his back from the impact and cried out _"Wave, I need ya…ya help, that is…" _blushing when he thought that first part could've been taken the wrong way. Wave quickly climbed out from the window, having repaired the blaster, and started firing blasts at Mighty and Espio. Espio dodged rapidly as if he was avoiding being hit by flying kunai while Mighty just took the easier option and removed his shell and placed it in front of him, using it as a faux riot shield.

Realising that this wasn't going to work, Wave threw down the blaster in frustration and ran towards the two, pulling off a drop kick to Mighty which hit on target due to the armadillo being distracted by putting his shell back on. Mighty fell on his side and rolled off to the side of the container, eventually grabbing the ledge of the container.

Wave walked over to him in order to finish the job but was interrupted by Espio suddenly punching her in the face as he said _"Forgot about me, did you? Well, don't worry, I'll make you regret it." _as he smiled a very dark looking grin. He then proceeded to attacking Wave with multiple light kicks, which she just barely dodged by ducking under at the last minute and then rolling to the side. Soon after this, Storm had regained enough strength to try tackle Espio as well

While Espio went about fighting head to head against Wave and Storm in mortal kombat, Mighty figured it would be an easier idea to let Espio deal with her and try to delay the truck in some way himself. So he started to shuffle along the edge, being careful of the massive avalanche occurring just below him, avoiding any vehicles that flew up into the air somehow or collided with the truck.

After quite an effort that was almost ruined by a bus nearly squishing his legs like a pancake, Mighty was finally hanging from one of the side windows of the truck. Jet was too busy trying to run over Sonic and Vector that he failed to notice the black armadillo that swung into the front and knocked him out with a double foot kick to the facé.

With the green hawk finally taking a peaceful nap, Mighty went about trying to stop the truck. Problem was…he had no idea how to do so; he could take out the keys but the truck would still be going due to being on a downward hill and potentially cause a lot of damage. He decided just to wing it and grabbed onto the steering wheel and press his foot down very hard on the brake pedal; so hard in fact that his foot actually went through the floor.

Mighty's jaw dropped at this and quietly said _"Oh crap…" _before he started turning the steering wheel manically, hoping that he could stop the truck running over Sonic and Vector. However, the road was completely straight and he didn't want to risk smashing any buildings so he couldn't do anything but sway the truck from side to side in a desperate attempt to make things better.

Upon noticing this odd change in patter, Sonic decided it might be best to get the hell outta there so he grabbed the wrecked Vector's arm and sped up to a degree that they got to the bottom of the hill and were finally safe…or so they thought.

Meanwhile on the top, Espio, Wave and Storm were falling about due to how the truck wildly swayed from side to site, causing Espio to fall off the side of the truck as he was pushed off by another sudden sway. Espio expected to be grievously hurt but felt that he landed rather safely. He sat up and realised that he had fallen back onto the taxi, which somehow was still driving alongside the truck.

Noticing the hysterical armadillo in the front weaving the steering wheel about like a furry Cruella De Vil, Espio asked _"Mighty, what the hell are you doing?!" _to which Mighty very nervously replied _"What else, I'm trying to stop this crazy thing?" _Espio raised an eyebrow and asked _"Why didn't you just try braking?" _to which the armadillo quickly replied _"Because I broke it!"_

Espio face palmed himself and muttered _"Figures…" _Knowing that thrusting the wheel wildly was going to do nothing, Mighty started rapidly and desperately pressing every button on the dashboard in the hope that it would somehow turn the whole truck off completely. However, all he had managed to do was activate and deactivate the window wipers over and over, flash the headlights on and off, turned the radio on and somehow, managed to activate an ejector seat function that launched the nearby seat with the unconscious Bean and Jet on it through the roof into the sky.

Mighty stared at the controls in complete confusion before he shouted _**"W-WHY?!" **_and was about to press more buttons when he heard a strange shredding noise going on at the back and after a few seconds, the container, with Wave and Storm still on it, lost its connections to the truck and fell onto the ground. Turns out that the buzz saws went haywire due to Mighty's button mashing antics and started flailing about, cutting anything in their path; in this case, what connected the container to the truck.

After witnessing what had just happened, Mighty returned his attention to the road and realised that they were at the bottom of the massive hill and heading toward a café that looked very familiar. It suddenly hit Mighty as fast as the truck was going that he was driving right for the Sparkling Emerald and he was going to ram into it and possible hurt or kill everyone inside, especially Honey.

_(For this last bit, this particular piece might be most appropriate: __ watch?v=K9smuVTUH4s__)_

Mighty's worried expression suddenly and swiftly turned into a determined, cross one as he sternly said _"Screw it!" _And with that, he punched the window in front and jumped out of the truck, rolling on the ground before quickly getting back up. He turned to face the truck and threw his arms outwards, ready to take the truck on like some sort of crazy nut job with six arms.

Sonic, watching from inside the Sparkling Emerald with Vector, ran outside to Mighty and asked _"Mighty, what the hell are you up to?!" _Mighty remained silent as he gripped his fists, ready for action, when he took off towards the speeding truck and as soon as he reached it, grabbed the front with his hands and started pushing against it in a desperate attempt to stop it.

Mighty was clearly struggling with this as no matter how hard he tried, the truck wouldn't stop moving and would still crash through the building and hurt everyone. This thought seemed to be what made him even more determined however as he kept pushing at it with such a force that his feet even broke through the road and left behind a large crack.

As the truck came closer and closer to the Sparkling Emerald, Mighty's strength seemed to increase as well since he pushed harder and harder, which began to slow the truck down to a considerable degree. Until finally, the truck finally stopped just in front of the Sparkling Emerald, nearly breaking through the recently repaired hole in the front wall.

Mighty slowly removed his hands from the front of the truck, slowly breathing from exhaustion as he said _"Finally…it stopped…everyone's okay." _before promptly falling on the floor unconscious with a soft smile on his face.

_(Sorry I keep advising music track ideas but this might help for the epilogue: __ watch?v=c14gzVcTiFg__)_

_June 24__th__, 5pm_

_Chaotix HQ, Onett Department Store_

Mighty woke up with a sudden jolt, staring at that damned ceiling from this morning. He thought _"I was right; I would get to know you Mr Ceiling. Wait, I'm still calling you that?! God dammit…" _He noticed that he was lying on that blasted couch and promptly sat up to avoid screwing up his back again.

However, when he sat up, he noticed that Vector, Espio, Charmy and Sonic were standing around the couch, looking at him with concerned expressions on their faces. Vector was the first to break into a smile, asking _"You alright, buddy?" _Mighty rubbed his head from exhaustion and replied _"Yeah, I think so. Did I faint or something?" _to which Vector replied _"Ya did. But after you saved everyone in the café."_

Mighty sighed in relief, saying _"Oh thank God. By the way, what happened to the case?" _Sonic folded his arms and answered _"Don't worry 'bout it, we got the laptop to the police and they'll use that to try track down the Rogues." _Remembering the incident with the ejector seat and losing the container, Mighty scratched his head in embarrassment and said _"That's right; I let them get away. Sorry 'bout that."_

"_It's fine, really," _Sonic said as he scratched his muzzle with his hand, _"but Mighty…were you always that strong?" _Mighty contemplated this for a few seconds before finally replying _"I think so, or at least as long as I can remember." _Sonic raised an eyebrow in confusion before he threw his hands into the air, dismissing the whole issue, and left for the door, saying _"Well, I'll see ya guys later! I'll admit this was pretty fun; at least it wasn't a complete disaster like last time. Nice seeing ya again, Mighty, by the way!"_

He opened the door before turning around to give another one of his charming smiles and trademark thumbs-ups and with that, he took off to head on another adventure. Mighty laughed a little, saying to no-one in particular _"He really hasn't changed, has he?…Oh, that reminds me. Did we get paid?" _to which Espio, typically folding his arms, replied _"We did but that bill we owed the taxi guy…pretty much killed all of it."_

"_Damn." _Mighty said as he jokingly rolled his eyes and chuckled slightly, _"So does this mean I still have a paying case until next week or what?" _to which Vector cheerfully replied _"Nope. We've talked it over and it's decided that you're staying on the team, mainly 'cause of how hard ya tried to help people out. Plus…to be fair, you did get us paid. In short, welcome to the Chaotix Crew, buddy!"_

Mighty smiled again as he said _"Thanks. I really mean it…thanks, all of you. Just one question…can I sleep anywhere but the couch? It's been driving me insane since last night." _Vector stuck his chest out, cheerfully saying _"Sure but we can't afford to get a new bed right now. So you'll just have to sleep with Espio!"_

Espio's stern expression completely fell apart as his eyes widened out and his voice rose as he very nervously asked _"Hold on a minute! Why me? Can't he just sleep on the floor?" _to which Vector replied _"Mainly 'cause you two seem to get along so fine together and 'sides, if he slept on the floor, he may as well be sleeping on the couch. Don't worry, it'll just be a few days, no more."_

Espio rolled his eyes in pure frustration as he replied _"Fine…doesn't mean I'm okay with this completely, though." _Charmy flew up to Vector and asked _"Hey Vector, since we're broke, what're we gonna eat?" _Vector simply shrugged when Mighty said _"Actually, if you have the right stuff, I can make dinner for you guys. If you like." _

Espio, Charmy and Vector jumped in joy at being able to eat again and Espio asked _"So what's the recipe?" _to which Mighty cheerfully replied _"Chilli dogs!" _

The three stared at Mighty in complete disbelief for a few seconds before shouting to the heavens with all the force of a Super Saiyan _**"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O!"**_

**The End**

_**Next time on the World's Greatest Detectives: **__A week has passed since Mighty's first two cases but now, they have to tackle a rhino that's been let loose in the city. Will the detectives be able to solve this case and just maybe change what people think of them? The answer and more shall be revealed in __**03 - Rhino Hunters! **__And don't worry, the good ol' fanservice is still gonna be around!_

_Message from the Author - 11/Feb/2013_

_(Finally, after a month and a half, I've finished off this bloody episode. Overall, I think it's only okay but tell me what you think anyways and if I can improve anything._

_Also, I'm planning on doing a short chapter-long intermission to tie up some loose ends and maybe do a bit of foreshadowing…_

_In any case, I hope you enjoyed this episode along with the rest of the fanfic so far and I'll see y'all next time! Have a great day, y'all - FrDougal9000)_


	12. Intermission 01 - Tying up Loose Ends

_(If you want mood music, look up Air - Johann Sebastian Bach on You Tube - Author)_

_June 24__th__, 7:35pm_

_Location: ?_

Up at the very top of a very tall and uniquely designed building lay an office with massive windows overlooking the city on the left and right sides. Despite the city lights being very bright, it didn't prevent the room from being in complete darkness.

Inside the office, there was a mysterious individual sitting at a large, wooden desk with his hands clasped around his mouth (_if you can't imagine this right, look up the Gendo Pose) _listening to soft orchestral melodies playing on a nearby radio, his mind deep in thought over many matters that came and went.

Suddenly, three knocks came from the door opposite the desk and an authoritive voice cried out _"Mr Trayal, your client is here!"_ In response, the man said out loud in a rather emotionless yet still scary way _"Come in." _After that, the door opened and the front half of the office became illuminated by a yellow light. However the only effect this light had on the man at the desk was that now a yellow light reflected from his glasses.

A medium sized blue hawk wearing extreme sports gear and ridiculous looking sunglasses then entered the room and slowly walked over to the desk, asking _"Honestly, have you ever thought about putting a light switch in this room? It's hard as hell to see anything." _The mysterious figure at the desk kept still and calmly replied _"What can I say? I like the view and I don't want a light ruining all that. Now, what was it you came in for…Predator, was it?"_

Predator put his hands on the desk and leaned over towards the man and fiercely said _"I think you know damn well what I'm here for. I wanna know what happened to the Rogues!" _The man smiled under his evil contemplation finger pyramid and condescendingly asked _"Whatever do you mean, my feathered friend?"_

"_THEY'VE GONE!" _Predator shouted as his hands clenched into fists, _"We agreed to meet up at 5pm and they weren't there! What did you do to them?!" _The strange figure chuckled softly and said _"Nothing." _Predator gritted his teeth in anger and slammed his fists on the desk, shouting _"What's so funny?!"_

The large chair the man was sitting on turned around, as he said _"Haven't been watching this evening's news?" _and with that, he pressed a button on one of the chair's arms and the large widescreen TV behind the desk turned onto the news channel, showing footage of what had occurred earlier that day as a voice over spoke: _"At 4:30 this afternoon, a massive black truck was seen chasing Sonic the Hedgehog and three unknown people throughout the town and causing great amounts of damage before finally being brought to a halt by an strange black armadillo with amazing strength." _as footage was shown of Mighty pushing the truck to a stop before fainting.

Pictures of Jet, Wave, Storm and Bean were shown on the TV as the voice over continued _"Witnesses on site confirmed that the people driving the truck were none other than the Babylon Rogues, the same group suspected of robbing the bank this morning. Where they trying to rub out Sonic the Hedgehog before he could expose them?" _

Footage of Bean and Jet being ejected from the truck and the container with Wave and Storm on it being cut off then played as the voice over said _"The answer is unknown as the police were unable to detain the four criminals, who somehow were able to get away. However, a laptop containing information on the four was given to the police via an anonymous source so they should be able to find with the donated info. We'll be keeping coverage as it happens; I'm Madeline Shrodinger, representing Space Channel 5, signing off."_

And with that, the TV turned off and the chair turned back around, with the man still clasping his hands together as he asked _"Now…what does this have to do with me?" _Predator frowned in disgust and replied _"You should know better than anyone; you supplied that modified truck, along with the robots used from this morning, so it's possible you could've sabotaged it!"_

The man's dark smile returned to its neutral state as he said _"Do you really think it's my fault they just vanished like that? It was that stupid armadillo that mashed the buttons and caused that chain of events, not I." _Predator softly gasped in surprise before he asked _"How do you know that armadillo caused this?" _The man did not reply and instead changed topics by saying _"What does it matter; anyhow, I've given you proof that I had no part in this. So…why come here?"_

"_Because I know that if my bro and his lot didn't pay you back in time, you were going to rub them out! And I know that your limit was yesterday! I mean, why else would you put in an ejector seat button when it wasn't needed?!" _Predator yelled as he once again slammed his fists on the man's desk. For the first time, the man's stationary head looked up towards the angry hawk and calmly replied _"Because they might need to use the ejector button. Anyways, I'd like you to stop banging the desk so much; it's made from mahogany and I couldn't stand it being damaged."_

"_Yeah?!" _Predator tenaciously replied as his frown turned into a cheeky smile, _"Well, what if I like banging desks?! How would ya feel about that, huh?!" _He began repeatedly pounding the desk with his fists, laughing like a lunatic, until a crack appeared on the desk.

Instantly, the man stood up and grabbed Predator by the throat, hoisting him into the air, as he calmly asked _"Enough, alright? Now please, get out of my sight." _He then threw the hawk over to the door and with that, the hawk left the room with his hands around his throat, coughing and choking in a desperate attempt to get his breath back, as a small Overlander in a white collared shirt and black pants passed by and went into the office.

The Overlander, looking barely over the age of seventeen, timidly asked _"S-sir, are you alright?!" _The man sat back down onto his chair and clasped his hands together again as he replied _"It was just some thrash I had to take care of. Don't worry about it; now, what is it you wanted?" _The young Overlander stood still and said _"Well, what if people find a connection between the robots and this company?"_

"_They won't." _the man assuredly replied, _"They'll assume it's either the Rogue's own invention or borrowed from that Robotnik character. Anyone who says otherwise…well, we'll take care of them separately." _The Overlander staggered back slightly as he said _"O-okay, sir. T-thank you." _before hastily leaving the room and closing the door behind him, leaving the room in darkness once again.

The chair turned around and the TV turned back on, paused on footage of the Chaotix shortly after the truck had been stopped. The man leaned forward, hands still clasped, and his golden eyes gazed towards Espio as he softly said _"So, we meet again, Espio. It's been what now…seven years. I look forward to it."_

**The End…**

_Message from the Author - 13/Feb/2012_

_(Welcome to the first intermission, a short series of chapter long side-stories that will be made every two episodes. These will be intended as subtle foreshadowing and maybe explanations for plot holes or ideas that come up at some point. These aren't mandatory in order to understand the plot but just self-contained stories with little hints of what's to come…_

_As for this first intermission, this explains some possible plot holes of Episode 02 and hints at a larger story yet to come. I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts, please tell me and I'll see what'll happen._

_I'll see y'all next time for Episode 03, which won't be affected by this intermission. Have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	13. 03 Rhino Hunters - 1 of 5

_June 31__st__, 5:35am_

_Emerald Coast Beach, Emerald Coast_

Ocean waves softly crashed off the nearby rocks over and over again as the faint sound of traffic and seagull cries played in the distance. The morning sun was beginning to rise up from the sea, giving both the sky and the sea a reddish-blue colour as the great ball of fire rose slowly but surely into the sky.

There was a very particular portion of the beach that extended outwards further than any other part where there was nothing but sand sticking out from the rest of the archipelago. Standing at the very edge of this portion with his feet in the water was a black armadillo, staring out into the beautiful seas beyond him.

He had travelled the length and breadth of Mobius over the course of seven years, taking in all sorts of spectacular and surreal sites, from the icy wonders of Holoska to the hill tops high above the towns in Westside Island, but no matter how many places he went to or viewed, there was nothing like staring out to a gorgeous, endless ocean on an early summer morning.

He felt a light breeze in his direction and in response, closed his eyes and smiled deeply as the wind softly blew through him for a few moments before stopping to a halt. The armadillo opened his eyes and looking out at the ocean once more, felt any stress that he had had this morning wash away as easily as the ocean waves at his feet.

Feeling completely calm, he turned around and walked away, listening to the sounds of waves crashing against the rocks and seagulls cawing as he walked back towards the town he had once left long again. As he saw the buildings in the distance, he thought _"I'm finally home." _with a bittersweet smile on his face.

_June 31__st__, 9:25am_

_Chaotix HQ, Onett Department Store_

"_**WAKE UP FELLAS! TIME TA GET UP AND GET TA WORK!**__" _Vector's voice boomed in the most motivational way possible to get his comrades out of bed, though really the only effect it had was waking Espio up from the rather pleasant sleep he'd been having since that mess from the night before.

Disoriented and annoyed, Espio lifted his head up from his pillow and sat up, rubbing his head as he groaned bitterly. He got out of bed and neatly folded his bed sheets before putting on his trademark shoes and gloves, which had been modified to look more ninja-like, though Vector just figured that the young chameleon had been watching too many reruns of the Super Shinobi…again.

He exited his room and walked into the kitchen, where Charmy was sitting at a nearby wooden table reading one of Espio's manga books (or creepy octopus nonsense as Vector referred to it). Speaking of which, at a small counter on the wall opposite the door, Vector, wearing a big apron that stated 'Shag the cook!', was trying (and failing hard) to cook something that wasn't a chilli dog but it wasn't all too clear as to what the crocodile was trying to cook; it looked stiff and flat but it wasn't square enough to be toast, it smelled like curry but there weren't any discarded packets lying all over the floor.

Espio ignored this confusing matter and walked over to the table and sat down on an old looking chair, where he promptly laid his head on the table and fell back asleep, which was broadcasted to everyone in the room through his rather loud snoring. Vector walked over to the table and picked up another manga book Charmy had with him and rolled it up before thwacking Espio on the back of the head with it.

Espio woke up again and threateningly asked _"What the hell was that for?!" _Vector bonked Espio of the head with the book again as he replied _"Fa sleepin' on the table for the sixth time this week! Seriously, ya gotta get outta the habit; it's no good fa detectives to be sleepin' on the job!" _before he turned around and walked back the counter to finish cooking…whatever he was trying to make.

Espio rubbed the back of his head in pain, saying with an air of annoyance _"Well, I wouldn't be having so much of an issue if that blasted armadillo wasn't sleeping with me every night for the past week!" _The crocodile didn't bother turning around and continued to try cook the strange food as he asked _"What's ya problem, anyways? There's just not enough room at the mo-" _which was interrupted by Espio, who pointed out _"There's that damn spare room next to your room! You said you'd take care of it but you haven't; probably 'cause you don't know where else to put your porno stash."_

Vector immediately went red with embarrassment and proceeded to throw a nearby frying pan at Espio, which whacked him straight in the face, as the croc hastily replied _"S-shaddup! I don't got no stash and besides, it's been a week; haven't you gotten over it yet?" _to which Espio, without thinking, blurted out _"Not after what happened last night!"_

Upon hearing that, Vector and Charmy immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at Espio in confusion and a bit of curiosity. Espio had only just realised what he'd said when Charmy asked _"What did happen last night?" _to which Espio very quickly replied _"Nothing…just a slip of the tongue is all."_

Vector, thinking that something _naughty _happened last night, sharply cut in, saying _"Is that what happened last night?!" _Espio almost instantly went red and shouted _"NO! N-nothing of that sort happened! Now forget about it!" _Vector chuckled at the possibilities of what might've happened last night but decided to figure it out later and shrugged before going back to cooking.

Charmy, stroking his teeny, tiny nose with his index finger, asked to no-one in particular _"Actually, speaking of Mighty, where is he?" _to which Vector replied while cooking _"He went out; left a note on the fridge sayin' he'll meet up with us at the Sparklin' Emerald at quarter ta 10."_

Charmy, still curious about a lot of things and always willing to point them out, replied _"Okay but Vector…when you said you don't got no stash, doesn't that mean you still have a stash?" _Espio chuckled softly at this contradiction while Vector stopped cooking to consider what Charmy had just said before he said _"Dammit! Anyways, breakfast's finally done; get ready for a feast unlike anything' you've ever seen!"_

Vector put the finished meal onto a rusty silver platter before bringing it over to the table and finally unveiling what it was: leftover flattened chips from their landlord's most recent Chinese take away! Looking at the bizarre concoction of cookery that lay in front of him, Espio said in confusion _"Well…it's definitely nothing like I've seen before…"_

Vector gleefully patted Espio's back as he replied _"I knew ya'd like it! Now eat up quickly or we'll be late!" _Espio picked one of the chips and took one bite. Two seconds later, he felt the desire to violently hurl and ran to the bathroom as quickly as possible, locking the door behind him. Vector folded his arms and bitterly said _"Huh, everyone's a critic!"_

_June 31__st__, 9:55am_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

Somehow, in the span of four hours, the lovely sunshine that was covering the town this morning had turned into pouring rain that was soaking the streets and the poor sods unlucky enough that they couldn't afford to stay inside from the giant wet mess.

Inside the café, Mighty was sitting at a window-side table with his arms folded, staring out the window and watching the world go by. He lifted up the wrist part of his right glove and looked at the watch underneath to check the time; 9:55, ten minutes after the Chaotix were supposed to meet up with him.

He sighed softly and proceeded to look out the window again, checking to see if the three detectives were going to show up. A minute or two passed and it looked like no-one was coming, though it was practically pissing rain by this point so nobody would be shouted at for not wanting to get soaked.

Mighty was about to get up and leave when he felt someone sit down next to him so he turned his head and saw Honey the Cat (yes that is her surname, blame her parents on that one) sitting next to him with a cup of coffee cheerful smile on her face as she looked at him, saying _"Mornin', Chicky."_

Mighty unfolded his arms and put them on the table as he asked _"You're still calling me that?" _to which she responded with an affirmative _"Hm-mm" _as she raised the cup to her lips and slowly drank the warm coffee. She then put the cup on the table as she asked _"So, how's life in the Chaotix, Chicky?"_

Mighty scratched his head and replied _"Fine, really. Nothing's happened since last week, though. We tried finding cases but no-one wanted to take us up for the job. Probably 'cause we seem to keep screwing them up." _Honey sighed cheerfully and said _"That's strange; you four seemed to be doing fine with that big case last week, especially when you stopped that truck."_

"_Yeah…" _Mighty said as he rolled his eyes, _"but what can you do?" _Honey drank some more coffee before she playfully asked _"Speaking of the Chaotix, where are the three stooges?" _to which Mighty replied _"God knows; I left a note on the fridge telling them to meet up with me here. Thing is, they were supposed to be here ten minutes ago and well, they aren't."_

"_Maybe they got caught up in something." _Honey suggested as she shrugged. Mighty responded, somewhat half-heartedly _"I guess…" _before checking out the window again to see if the three had shown up but unfortunately, they didn't. He looked back over to Honey, who was having another sip from her cup, and noticed that she was wearing different clothes from the last two times he saw her.

She was wearing a red t-shirt that slightly exposed the top of her cleavage and tight black shorts that went down to just above her knees. She noticed that he was looking at her body and cheekily asked _"Are you checking me out?" _Mighty immediately became as red as a bloody tomato and looked away, stuttering _"N-no, I w-wasn't! I-I wouldn't do that to a g-g-girl!"_

Honey giggled at this and said _"I was just joking; calm down, alright?" _Mighty sighed and said _"Fine but can I ask; are you working today?" _to which she replied _"No, I'm not. I took the day off so I could visit dad this morning and see how he is." _Mighty remembered the car accident that she mentioned when they first met and asked _"And how is he?"_

Honey's expression became somewhat sombre and replied _"He's okay. The doctor said he'll be out in a few days and that he just needs rest for the moment." _She sighed wearily and leaned on the table as she rubbed her head with her hands, saying _"Sorry, it's just…I'm scared for him. I know he's taken worse but I still get scared, even if I can't help it."_

Mighty put his hand on her shoulder, rubbing it softly as he said _"Don't worry 'bout it, Honey. He'll be alright, I'm sure of it." _Honey placed her hands down on the table and turned her head to look at Mighty as she replied _"Thanks." _She smiled softly but a few seconds passed before she realized she was blushing.

Mighty noticed this and also started blushing out of embarrassment. Honey hadn't blushed around another guy before and wasn't sure what to do about this when suddenly, she felt some kind of urge rising in her and slowly moved her head towards his head, closing her eyes. The armadillo began to feel really nervous and his hands were rapidly shaking but for whatever reason, he was also moving his head closer to hers.

Their faces were mere inches from each other and their lips were just barely about to make contact when a familiar Brooklyn accent blared out _**"Hey Mighty, ya cheating on Espio already?!"**_

Mighty and Honey immediately snapped out of their trance and screamed in surprise, turning their heads towards the seats in front of them to find Vector with a very cheeky grin plastered on his face, Charmy hovering in the air and giggling like a madman and Espio with his hand firmly placed over his face in embarrassment.

Mighty stammered _"N-n-n-NO! You didn't see a-anything! And anyways, what do you mean 'cheating on Espio'?!" _Vector chuckled as he replied _"Well, apparently, according to Esp, something' happened between you two last night." _Mighty slammed his two hands on the table and leaned over to Espio, asking _"Wait, you told them?! I thought you weren't going to mention it!"_

Espio removed his face palm and replied _"It was just a slip of the tongue, I didn't mean that to hap-" _before Honey cheekily replied _"So that's what hap-" _when Espio cut in, saying _"Not in that way!" _Honey giggled and said _"Okay, then what did happen?"_

Silence passed for several seconds as all eyes fell on Espio and Mighty, the former folding his arms and responding _"I don't want to talk about it." _and the latter nervously chuckling as he replied _"Maybe some other time…" _Charmy, Vector and Honey groaned in disappointment that they weren't going to find out about it.

Mighty scratched his nose with his index finger as he asked _"What took you guys so long by the way? I was waiting for fifteen minutes for you to show up." _to which Vector replied _"Well, Espio spent ten minutes vomiting non-stop," _when Espio pointed out _"Because of your stupid left-over breakfast!"_

"_Anyways," _Vector continued, ignoring the blasphemous remark against his cooking, _"and we went down to da supermarket to check the bulletin board fa any possible cases." _An enthusiastic look appeared on Mighty's face as he asked _"And did ya find one?" _to which Vector proudly replied _"Would I really be the Great Vector if I didn't find anything? Of course I did; BAM!" _as he slammed a small poster down on the table.

Mighty picked up the poster, which contained a picture of a rhino and writing below saying _"WANTED: Rhino, named Ramby, missing for five days. Large grey rhino, weighs about 3 tons, 2 years old. Will give 5000 Mobucks to whoever finds and returns it to owner, Miss Ella of 25 Station Square." _A confused look appeared on Mighty's face as he put the poster down and asked _"So, lemme get this straight; we're going to try catch a missing rhino?"_

Vector cheerfully replied _"Yep!" _Mighty scratched his head in confusion as he asked _"How are we going to do that? We don't even know where we could possibly find the rhino, let alone catch and bring it back to this Ella lady." _Vector folded his arms and said _"Don't worry; when you got Vector leading the charge, the case is already solved." _Espio leaned over and whispered to Mighty _"In other words, we're doomed."_

"_Don't know 'til we give it a shot, Esp!" _Vector said, pointing at Espio as if to shout _**"**__**OBJECTION!**__**" **_before getting up and walking for the door, saying _"C'mon Chaotix Crew! To Miss Ella's house!" _Charmy gleefully hovered after the crocodile, Espio tiredly groaned and got up, shuffling slowly toward the door and Mighty sat there nervously next to Honey.

He scratched his head and smiled nervously, asking _"So…what do we do about…what just happened?" _Honey chuckled and said _"We'll take care of it later. Just get on with your rhino catching business." _as she playfully tugged on one of Mighty's antler-ears.

Mighty smiled and got up from the table, running towards and out the door as he shouted to the Chaotic _"Hey, wait up for me!"_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 16/Feb/2013_

_(I can't believe it's only two days 'til I have to go back to school. Oh well, I guess it can't be helped and hey, it's Transition Year so nothing's going to happen anyways!_

_Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the first part of Rhino Hunters, even despite the massive ship teasing seen throughout this chapter and the rest of the episode._

_Like before, tell me what you think of the episode and if there's any improvements that can be made to the plot/writing style and I'll see y'all for the next chapter! Have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	14. 03 Rhino Hunters - 2 of 5 (RECUT)

_June 31__st__, 11:14am_

_Station Square, Emerald Coast_

Although it had taken about an hour of straight running due to not having enough money to even afford a simple bus ride, the now exhausted Chaotix had finally reached the acclaimed district and despite being wrecked from running constantly, they couldn't help but marvel at how different this area was from the rest of the city.

The rest of Emerald Coast consisted of small, humble buildings that, while very numerous, didn't block the view of the seaside and surrounding countryside in any manner. However, the buildings in Station Square practically rose up to the atmosphere with many gigantic skyscrapers and apartment complexes extending towards the sky.

In fact, the only way you could actually see anything but the buildings was to look up as high as you could to see only the slightly cloudy sky before your neck started complaining about strains. In general, it felt as if the four detectives had gone to a completely different city.

They had reached an area of the city that was a giant roundabout surrounded by many more tall buildings with a small area of grass and a few benches in the middle of the roundabout. The Chaotix ran over to this part of the area and promptly collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion.

Heavily panting in and out, Espio tiredly asked _"Vector…when in hell are we gonna reach that blasted house?" _Vector, lying on the bench like an old, crazy hobo pointed to the direction behind where his head was and chuckled, saying _"There…happy now?"_

Mighty, Espio and Charmy lifted their heads and slowly turned them towards the direction Vector was pointing at, which was at a massive white house that was about 3 stories high and looked to have about fifty rooms at least, guessing from the huge number of windows seen at the front and at the large front door, huge golden numbers read out 25.

Realising this was their destination, the three tired detectives on the grass said in unison _"Ohhh…" _while the green detective lying on the bench replied _"Told ya. Now let's get goin'!" _as he slowly got off the bench and took a deep breath to regain himself before he slumped tiredly over to the house.

Mighty, Espio and Charmy got up from the comfy grass and the latter two walked off for the house while Mighty took a few stretches to quickly get his body back into shape until he was finally ready to go again and quickly took off for the door. Nearby the door was a small black intercom with a speaker and a microphone attached to it, with a small button on one of the corners to activate the microphone.

Vector pressed on it and loudly said into the microphone _"Hello? Is Ms Ella there by any chance?" _Some brief static came out of the speaker before a stern, male voice replied _"Yes but first, who is this?" _Vector pressed the button again and said _"We're the Chaotix Detective Agency and we found your ad in da supermarket; we're here to find Ramby!"_

No response came from the speaker, not even some form of static, but fortunately, it sounded like someone was coming to the door, in high heels I should add, and started unlocking what sounded like a ton of locks attached to the other side of the door until finally, the door opened up to reveal a sight that not only filled the exhausted crocodile with life again but also was accompanied by saxophone music of all things.

_(Here you go: __ watch?v=SbQnjuUwWR4__)_

Standing in front of the four detectives was an emerald coloured female gecko with long blond hair and ruby lipstick all over her soft, sensual lips, clad in a short pink t-shirt that showed off a considerable part of her well-endowed cleavage and very, very tight black pants that went down to her scaly knees and high heels that also doubled as sandals that revealed her smallish toes.

Vector's jaw dropped right through the ground they were standing on and you could practically see his eyes turning into big, red love hearts, Mighty clutched his forehead with one hand and blocked Charmy's view with the other and Espio stood in place, looking as if a very attractive reptile had not appeared in front of him like he was suddenly transported to some very bizarre lemon fan fiction.

The gecko amusingly scoffed and said _"Don't get yourselves in a tizzy boys; you'll be too distracted to look for Ramby otherwise. I'm Miss Ella, by the way." _Vector popped out from his trance and rapidly shook Miss Ella's hand, gleefully saying _"Hey there ma'am, I'm Vector, great leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency, and don't worry, we'll find your rhino for ya!" _as he gave a confident yet also lustful smirk.

Watching Vector's bizarre behaviour, Mighty scratched his head and said to no-one in particular _"I've never seen the guy be so active before." _Espio folded his arms and sharply replied _"Would you be surprised if I said that there's one other thing that's even more active than he is right now?" _Mighty and Charmy looked at Espio, with Mighty staggering back a little with his eyes widened out in disgust, while Charmy just looked at the two and asked _"Hey Espio, what d'ya mean by that other active thing?"_

Espio was about to speak when Mighty grabbed the sides of the young bee's head, hoping to block his ears, as he nervously said _"Uhh…I'll tell you when you're older, alright buddy?" _Charmy immediately frowned and folded his arms in a little pout, saying _"No fair. How come I always gotta miss out and you guys seem to do whatever you like?"_

Mighty and Espio raised an eyebrow in confusion and Mighty asked _"What do you mean?" _to which the Charmy grumpily replied _"I got up to get a glass a milk last night and heard you two doing somethin'; I don't know what but all I heard was something about being less salty."_

Mighty and Espio's eyes widened in disgust and Espio held a hand over his mouth, asking _"Was it really that loud?" _The bee simply shrugged and said _"I dunno; I just thought I was dreamin' again so I went back to bed but hold up, something actually happened?" _as a curious and cheeky smirk appeared on his muzzle.

Mighty and Espio blushed slightly as they waved their hands, with Mighty very nervously saying _"No! N-nothing happened at all! Who implied s-something happened? N-n-not me, that's for sure! I b-blame the author of this stupid fanfic!" _

**Hey, you leave me outta this mess!**

Anyways, by this point, Vector and Miss Ella had stopped talking and stared at the three oddballs standing nearby, who noticed that they were being watched and in reaction, Mighty and Espio folded their arms and looked away from each other while Charmy scratched his head in confusion.

Vector shook his head, muttering _"Anyways…" _before proceeding to bow in the most ludicrous fashion towards Miss Ella as he continued _"If ya don't mind Miss Ella, can we come in at discuss the case with ya?" _Miss Ella, pretending to act charmed with an insincere smile and a false giggle, sarcastically replied _"Oh course, 'great' Vector. And please, call me Susan."_

"_Thank you, Miss E - I-I mean Susan." _Vector said as he rose up from his silly bow, giving Susan a playful little wink, before he whistled towards his comrades and pointed towards the door which he then walked through, followed by Susan and a confused Charmy while Espio and Mighty stood just outside.

Espio sighed wearily and asked _"What does he think we are; trained Chao or something?" _Mighty folded his arms and began walking towards the door, saying _"Who cares? Let's just go in, alright?" _Espio rolled his eyes and also walked towards and into the door, following Mighty and his comrades into a massive living room.

It really says something about the wealth of someone when their living room was about the size of the Chaotix's HQ but that was the case with Susan's living room; with a massive 100-inch TV hanging over an insanely huge fireplace, three enormous couches and a rather large coffee table, Susan was a very loaded woman.

Susan and Vector sat down on one end of the big couch facing the TV while Mighty sat down on a nearby window sill, Charmy hovered nearby and Espio leaned on the wall. Susan leaned over to look at Espio and remarked _"Not one for chairs, are you?" _to which the chameleon cheekily scoffed and replied _"Not really, especially when 'that' is around." _as he pointed towards the extremely horny crocodile, moving closer and closer to Susan.

Thinking of the best possible pick-up line, Vector's eyes lowered in a fashion that was sexy to him and freaky to everyone else as he softly said _"Ya know, __that shirt looks very becoming on ya, but if I were on ya, I'd be coming too." _Almost instantly, everyone but Vector and young Charmy was filled with the desire to vomit as their eyes widened and their jaws dropped in disgust at such a horrifying pick-up line. (_And in case you're curious, yes, this is an actual pick-up line that some people use. I'm dead serious. - Author)_

Mighty went over to slap Vector on the back of the head, saying _"Vector! There's a kid in the room!" _Vector rubbed the back of his head in pain while Susan, trying to forget that godforsaken line, picked up a TV remote laying on the coffee table and turned on the TV facing the couch. Footage of a recent music video with blaring guitars and powerful drum beats instantly appeared on the gigantic screen.

Mighty leaned on the couch with his arms and asked _"So…Susan, exactly what happened with Ramby?" _to which Susan melodramatically replied _"Oh, it's horrible; you see, Ramby lives in the garage at the back of the house and five days ago, I accidentally left the garage door open. So Ramby must've just gotten up and left; I can't believe he's been gone so long! It's horrible!" _as she suddenly broke down in tears and put her head into her arms, though the truth was she was actually faking this since she was insincerely smiling in that huddle of hers.

Vector slithered over to Susan and put his arm around her shoulders, saying with a cocky grin _"Don't worry, Susan. Vector's on da case and we'll find Ramby for ya!" _Mighty simply scratched his head in confusion and asked _"Why would you keep a rhino in a garage? Why would you even keep a rhino to begin with?" _to which Espio shrugged and replied _"Different strokes, different folks, I guess."_

While this melodrama was going on, Charmy was too busy watching the rather bizarre music video that involved millions of Goths break dancing in a church at some guy's funeral when it suddenly was interrupted by a new report that said _"We wish to interrupt this bizarre music video to forward the plot; a psychotic rhino has been contained in the parking lot of the Emerald shopping centre in the Station Square district."_

The little antennae that poked out of Charmy's pilot helmet pricked up as he flew over to Mighty and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, pointing towards the TV with his other hand. Mighty looked up towards the news report and soon, everyone else was watching the broadcast, which was now playing footage of a large rhino charging through several areas of town.

The newscaster continued _"This rhino has been spotted running all across town for the last few days, causing huge amounts of damage_ _and running over at least a thousand people. However, it's finally been contained in the aforementioned parking lot by the city police, who're planning to put the poor creature of its misery once and for all."_

More footage showing the rhino's havoc played on the TV as Susan brought her hands up to her mouth in shock and gasped, saying _"Dear God, that's Ramby! They're going to shoot him!" _Vector stood up from the couch as he confidently said _"Not if we have anything to say about it!" _He turned his head towards his comrades and pointed towards the door, saying _"C'mon, guys! We're gonna go down to da parkin' lot and save Ramby!"_

"_And if you don't mind," _Vector said as he ridiculously bowed towards the female gecko still sitting on the couch once again, _"maybe when this is taken care with, we could go out fa dinner…to celebrate winnin' the case and everything." _Susan softly but derisively scoffed as she replied _"Okay, but only if you stop Ramby from getting shot."_

Vector got up from his silly action and thumbed towards himself as he yelled _"Ma'am, when you've got Vector around, the case is already solved! Chaotix Crew, to the parkin' lot!" _as he ran out the door with great enthusiasm. Mighty turned his head to Espio and asked _"Does he actually know where that shopping centre is?" _to which the chameleon cheekily smirked as he replied _"No but it'll be fun seeing how long it takes before we get there."_

Espio stopped leaning on the wall and walked out of the door, quickly followed by Mighty dragging Charmy, who had become distracted by the music video playing on the TV once again.

_June 31__st__, 12:30pm_

_Emerald Shopping Centre, Emerald Coast_

Normally, the parking lot of this shopping centre was packed with people walking about, carrying their shopping or running off to other stores, and many vehicles parked in several parking spaces but today, the place was like a wasteland you'd see in the climax of a zombie horror flick; barren with destroyed cars lying everywhere, bodies of innocent victims scattered far and wide and surrounded by several police vans and heavily-armed troopers waiting for an attack.

Unlike a zombie flick however, there was also a rhino charging about the parking lot, tearing through abandoned vehicles and making a very large fuss. Also unlike a zombie flick was the arrival of a black armadillo, a purple chameleon and a young bee wearing a pilot's helmet and a life jacket, all lead by a giant green crocodile that was altogether hornier than someone who hadn't gotten laid in 80 years.

They ran up to a very large police van, where an Overlander about as tall as Vector with white hair and a small moustache clad in a brown trench coat was giving orders to the troops with a massive megaphone, which were _**"All right, men. We've got the lot barricaded so it shouldn't be able to escape!" **_pointing towards the massive steel barriers blocking the exits.

The Overlander continued _**"Now, get ready to take aim and fire on my order." **_This was immediately proceeded by all of the troops loading their rifles in a magnificent symphony of clanks and chinks as they prepared to take down the menace rampaging through the parking lot.

The Overland noticed the four detectives running toward him and turned to them with a look of derision on his face as he said _"Oh God, not you three again. Look, I don't care what you say, you're not dealing with this; let us handle this." _Vector folded his arms and leaned towards the Overlander in a disrespectful fashion, saying _"C'mon Commish, don't shoot that rhino. Just give us one more sh-" _which swiftly interrupted by the Commish's _"No! After that mess you made with the mayor's house, I'm not helping you out anymore!"_

He lifted the megaphone to speak into it again when he noticed the armadillo standing next to the Chaotix. He walked over to the armadillo and looked down at him with an air of curiosity, asking _"Have we…met somewhere before?" _to which Mighty staggered back and nervously replied _"N-no, I don't think we haven't!" _The Commish raised an eyebrow in confusion, wondering about this somehow familiar stranger in front of him when Vector quickly replied _"That's Mighty, da new guy. He joined up 'bout a week ago; you might've seen him on the news as da guy who pushed the giant truck to a halt."_

A look of surprise appeared on the Commish's face as he looked at the armadillo and asked _"Wait a minute, the guy who stopped that truck completely was…you?" _to which Mighty eagerly nodded. Vector also waved his finger at the Commish as he said _"And don't forget that we're da guys that gave you those files on da Babylon Rogues last week!"_ The Commish scratched his chin with his hand as he pondered about this, humming softly, until he said _"Alright, fine. I'll give you two chances to take care of that rhino but hear this; if you don't get this right, I'll give the order to take it out."_

Vector sighed in relief and said _"Don't worry, Commish. We'll take care of the rhino humanely and ya know why? 'Cause we're the greatest detectives on da planet, the Chaotix Crew!" _as he pointed epically towards the sky before walking towards the parking lot. However, his foot mis-stepped on a kerb and he flipped onto the ground, lying on his back in pain.

Espio and the Commish face palmed in unison and groaned as the Commish muttered _"We're doomed…"_

_(Time for some epic mood music: Spending Time in Preparation - Neon Genesis Evangelion - __ watch?v=RKR4N7qTw34__)_

_Five minutes later…_

The weather had taken a turn for the worse by this point in the day as the great big clouds in the sky covered the city with a massive torrent of rain, with only just a few brief rays of sunshine breaking through the white blanket up above.

However this didn't prevent a large crowd from gathering just outside the parking lot to not only view the destructive rampage that the psychotic rhino had been causing but also to see how the Chaotix, who many people considered to be terrible detectives, would fail in their attempt to catch this mad beast.

Standing beside a massive police van were the four detectives, all of them trying to think of how to catch this rabid rhino; Vector was leaning on the van, stroking his snout with his finger, Mighty had his hands in his leg pockets as he looked towards the rhino's carnage, Espio was calm in contemplation with his arms folded and Charmy was hovering in the air, folding his arms like Espio in a mocking fashion.

Vector sighed softly and asked _"__Anyone got any ideas?__"_to which Mighty scratched the bottom of his muzzle as he replied _"__I could run up to the rhino and punch it in the face to knock it out.__"_Vector thought about this for a few seconds before he shook his head, saying _"__Too risky; you__'__re too strong so ya might end up doing worse to da poor fella.__"_

Mighty sighed as he replied _"__Right__…"_when Charmy suddenly burst out _"__Ooh, ooh, I__'__ve got an idea! How __'__bout we get a red blanket and distract the rhino __'__till we can knock it out?!__"_Everyone stared at him in silence for a few seconds until Espio pointed out _"__Charmy__…__we__'__re trying to catch a rhino, not a bull.__"_

"_What__'__s the difference?__"_Charmy asked as he scratched his nose. In response, the other three detectives fell on the floor with their feet dangling upwards in the air. Just then, the Commish walked over to them and asked _"__Well, any ideas yet?__"_Vector got himself up from the ground and replied _"__Maybe__…__maybe we could distract da rhino with some food?__…__That__'__s it! We lay some meat down on da floor, wait for the rhino to go over to it and then we throw a big net over him!__"_

The Commish scratched his chin as he pondered this, mumbling _"__It could work__…"_Espio and Mighty finally got up from their strange fall as the Commish finally replied _"__Well, we__'__ll give it a shot; I think we__'__ve got a net big enough to capture it and we can get some meat delivered in a few minutes.__"_Vector slammed one hand in the form of a fist into the palm of his other hand as he said _"__Great! Thanks, Commish!__"_

The Commish called a nearby officer and told him to get out the big net and to get the best possible meat delivered. The officer ran off to take care of his duty as the Commish pinched the bridge on his nose, thinking _"__I just hope this works__…"_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 21/Feb/2013_

_(Sorry for the delay but again, I seem to have a love affair with procrastinating so what can you do? Anyways, things are starting to get into action as our epic heroes tackle on the mighty Ramby! Will they win?! God knows, I just make things up as I go along._

_And in case this whole thing seems very silly, well…my inspiration for this whole episode in general was very silly. If you want an explanation of sorts, look up 'There's a Rhino Loose in the City - Zero Punctuation Style' on YouTube._

_Anyways, as usual, tell me what you thought of the chapter and the episode so far and tell me if I can make any improvements to my writing style. And with that, I'll see y'all for my next chapter. Have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000_

_NOTE: This is yet another recut I decided to do in order to fix a few issues I had with the story; adding in a few more details to explain things more, bringing in portions from the next chapter to improve the overall quality. However it turns out, I hope you enjoy the improved version.)_


	15. 03 Rhino Hunters - 3 of 5 (RECUT)

_June 31__st__, 12: 45pm_

_Emerald Shopping Centre, Emerald Coast_

The Chaotix, carrying the big net and a large hunk of meat, went into the parking lot, making sure not to grab the attention of the psychotic rhino by hiding behind a large van that had been left alone in the chaos. With their backs to the wall, Vector peeked his head out of the side to check if the rhino had noticed them.

Thankfully, it had not and was continuing its wild attack on the parking lot and the rest of the other cars with gay abandon. Vector removed his head from his viewpoint and looked at his team mates, saying _"Alright, Chaotix Crew, one of us has gotta go get that hunk a meat near the rhino without getting' killed and we need another guy to throw the net over him; any volunteers?"_

The silence that he received from his team mates for several seconds clearly frustrated him as his mouth formed a frown and he groaned angrily, saying _"Fine, I'll take care a this! Charmy, you get the meat near the rhino," _as he pointed toward the now nervous young bee, _"and I'll carry da net and throw it when the time's right! Got it?" _

Charmy fretted with his hands nervously before he decided to be brave for Vector by eagerly saluting and replying _"Yes, sir!" _Vector gave Charmy the rather delicious looking hunk of meat as Vector said _"And don't even think about eatin' it yaself, alright?" _

Charmy happily nodded and said _"Yep!" _before softly flying over to a position close enough to the rhino to place the meat down, though his eyes were constantly fixated on the hunk of meat he was holding. Vector hoisted the net over his back as he looked at Mighty and Espio, cheekily saying _"I'll be back in a minute; try not to make out while I'm gone, okay?"_

Mighty and Espio started blushing again as their eyes widened out and their jaws dropped, with Mighty very nervously saying _"W-will you cut it out, Vector?! N-n-nothing's going on between us!" _to which the smartass crocodile chuckled as he replied _"I'll cut it out when ya tell me what happened last night!" _

Mighty and Espio stayed silent for several seconds until Vector asked _"Well?…Are ya telling me or not?" _Mighty sighed softly and opened his mouth to speak when Charmy came flying back towards them, saying _"I did it, Vector! I got the meat near him!" _Vector smiled and patted the young bee's head as he said _"Great job, kid! Now, to take care of this rhino; come on."_

He began to move from car to car with the net over his back, sneaking softly to avoid the rhino's attention as if he was some kind of secret cover agent. Finally, he put his back to a small light-blue car that was 30 feet away from the rhino. Right in front of the car was the giant hunk of meat Charmy carried over, although the hunk looked as if someone had taken a few small bites out of it.

He looked back toward the truck, with Espio was peeking out of as a look out, as signalled the three to come over to the car. Espio notified his comrades before turning invisible and softly running for the car, followed by Mighty who curled up into a little ball in his shell and rolled over to the car and Charmy who quickly but quietly flew to his destination.

As Mighty uncurled from his little ball, Vector asked _"How come ya never told me you could do that?" _to which the armadillo shrugged and replied _"Well, you didn't ask." _Vector rolled his eyes and said _"Fair enough." _Espio turned visible again and looked over the car, looking out for the rhino coming towards the meat.

When he was the rhino finally notice the meat and began walking towards it, he looked towards his allies and said _"Guys, the rhino's going towards the meat." _Almost instantly, the other three poked their heads above the car to find the rhino sniffing the hunk of meat.

"_Alright guys," _Vector said, getting his net ready for action, _"when that rhino starts eatin', I'll throw the net over, alright?" _to which Mighty, Charmy and Espio replied _"Roger!" _They watched the rhino sniff the hunk of meat for several seconds before grunting and walking away.

Back at the police van, the Commish, who had been viewing the entire situation through binoculars and holding an umbrella up above him, lifted the binoculars down from his eyes and stared toward the rhino in disbelief, _"What the hell's going on?" _A nearby officer took the binoculars and looked into them as she viewed the situation for herself.

While looking, she said _"Uh…Commissioner Drummond, you do know that rhinos are herbivores, not carnivores, right?" _The Commish's eyes widened upon hearing that statement and a few seconds passed in stunned silence until he whacked his face with his palm as he softly said _"I don't believe it…"_

Meanwhile, back at the car the Chaotix were hiding behind, the four detectives were utterly confounded as the rhino completely ignored the hunk of meat and continued ramming through trucks and other vehicles. None of them had actually expected the rhino to be a vegetation (though, when none of these guys have gone to school in a very long time, that tends to happen).

Vector crouched back down and leaned on the car, sighing wearily as he asked _"Well…what now?" _to which Espio, with his arms folded and his eyes closed as always, replied _"Well, we try something else, though the next plan should be though out a bit more before we attempt it; remember, the Commissioner gave us two chances and we've already wasted the first."_

"_Fine…" _Vector said as he stood back up, making sure that the rhino was not looking in their direction,_ "C'mon guys, we gotta get back to the van." _Vector started walking away as Mighty and Espio got up and followed him back towards the police van. Charmy suddenly caught up to Vector and with a curious look on his face, asked _"Hey Vector, can we take the meat back?" _pointing towards the meat lying on the soaked ground.

Vector looked back at the meat and shook his head, saying _"Can't; it's too soggy and it'll be dirty from lying on the ground. Anyways, you enough to eat from it for one day, little guy." _as he leaned over towards Charmy with a cocky smile on his face. Charmy folded his arms and put on a spoiled little frown as he replied _"No fair, you're mean!"_

The four were about to keep walking back to the van when Charmy started sniffling and said _"Guys, I-I-I think I've got a c-cold." _Mighty looked around him and noticed the rain pouring all around him and his comrades as he stroked his nose with his finger, asking _"What do we then?"_

"_Simple!" _Vector nervously said, looking very worried all of a sudden, _"We make sure this guy doesn't sneeze or the rhino'll kill us!" _As if by bad luck forced upon them by a trolling writer, Charmy's nose twitched like mad and he started going _"Ah, ah, ah, ah-" _when Vector covered the bee's nose with his finger, making sure that he didn't sneeze.

However, it didn't as Charmy still ended up sneezing onto Vector's finger, covering it with quite a bit of green snot to the crocodile's disgust. _"Oh man, that's disgusting!" _Vector said as he started flicking his hand to get the snot off his finger while Mighty, Charmy and Espio watched in sheer bewilderment.

Mighty tilted his head and asked _"Hey partner, does that whole 'covering nose with finger to stop sneezing' idea ever work?" _Espio stared at him with a look that would only be made if he was asked a really stupid question and sarcastically replied _"You know, I don't think it's ever worked. Oh, and stop calling me 'partner'." _

Mighty rolled his eyes and sighed wearily, saying _"Alright, fine. You don't have to be such an ass about it though." _As Vector continued to get the dripping snot off his finger to no avail, Charmy rubbed his nose to clear it up and asked _"Guys…is it just me or did we forget 'bout something?"_

The ground started to slowly rumble and hoofs could be heard stamping on the floor, getting closer and closer to the four detectives. Mighty and Espio looked at Charmy and were about to shrug when they noticed the giant 3 ton rhino heading towards them with its horns ready for action.

Almost immediately, the two turned around and started legging it for the van as Mighty screamed _"RHINO!" _Vector stopped trying to get the persistent slime off his hand and looked at the rhino that tore through the car they were hiding behind just a few minutes ago in half.

The crocodile's eyes widened out like big headlights and his jaw dropped onto the floor for a few seconds before he grabbed Charmy by the arm and ran for the van as fast as he could, eventually catching up with Mighty and Espio. The rhino was getting closer to the four detectives by the second and it looked as if they were done for.

Suddenly, a strange figure clad in a brown trench coat appeared from the crowd near the parking lot and jumped over the guard-rail, jumping far enough that it was able to deliver a kick to the rhino's face. The rhino stopped in its tracks, though the kick seemed to have no effect whatsoever. The Chaotix stopped and turned to look at this mysterious person that had just saved them.

Being able to see the figure clearly now that it wasn't moving about with all the ferocity of a Z-Fighter, it turns out that their saviour was actually Honey the Cat, who was currently pointing at the rhino and epicly shouting _"That's for wrecking my car, you ass!"_

She quickly pulled off her trench coat and threw it at the rhino's face, covering it for just enough time that she ran back towards the van, quickly followed by the Chaotix. The rhino tore through the trench coat, leaving it in many pieces and finding the five to have gotten behind the guard rail on the landing above, it quickly returned to its wild rampage.

Vector and Mighty were panting heavily from exhaustion while Espio leaned on the guard rail, observing the rhino's actions, and Charmy was happily hugging Honey, saying _"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" _Honey chuckled before sighing softly, saying _"Well, there goes my car AND my trench coat. Unbelievable."_

"_What were you doin' here?" _Vector asked as he leaned on the van, still trying to catch his breath. Honey sighed as she replied _"Well, I had the day off so I thought I'd visit a friend who worked here. Trouble is, I had to evacuated with everyone else and that's why my car was still there." _as she thumbed non-chalantly toward the two large pieces of blue rubble that were formerly her car.

Mighty stared at Honey in disbelief as he asked _"What the hell was that?" _Honey smiled and walked over to Mighty, replying _"What, saving you guys? I'm actually a part-time fighter, would you believe it? When I'm not working at the Sparkling Emerald, I like to kick ass and take names. You like?" _as she leaned over towards him with a flirty look in her face.

Mighty started blushing like a ripe tomato again and fiddled with his hands as he stammered _"M-m-maybe. And t-thanks for saving our butts back there." _Honey replied _"You're welcome, Chicky." _as she very quickly planted a small peck on Mighty's cheek before she turned towards the other three detectives and asked _"Well, what's happened so far?"_

While Mighty froze in place with his eyes widened out and jaw dropped, stuttering like a crazy hobo, Vector put his hands on his hips as he replied _"We're trying to catch that big rhino from earlier…'cept he's gone crazy, makin' a lot harder than it should be. We tried luring him in with meat but it turns out that Ramby's a vegetarian."_

The Commish walked over to Vector and asked _"Hold on, that thing has a name?" _to which the crocodile replied _"Yep, and it's a 'he' by the way." _The Commish rolled his eyes and said _"Fine, so the rhino's a 'he', that doesn't change the fact that you still have to catch him. Got any other ideas?"_

Vector scratched his forehead with the finger that wasn't covered in snot and pondered this, softly humming for a few seconds as he racked his brain for any idea that could work. Mighty snapped out of his trance and shook his head to clear his mind before saying _"Seriously, why can't I just punch Ramby softly and get this over with?"_

Honey looked at him and asked _"Didn't you tell me when we first met that you can't stop yourself when you're fighting?" _Mighty opened his mouth to speak out but when he remembered that little detail, he simply _"Oh yeah…crap." _Espio turned away from the guard rail and said _"There's one thing we could try…"_

Vector, who managed to come up with nothing, cheerily asked _"What's the idea, Esp?" _to which the chameleon replied _"Well, after observing the rhino's actions, it seems that it-I mean he, seems to be acting on primal urges like charging into things and refusing to eat certain foods." _The Commish, who was genuinely interested in where this was going, stroked his chin and said _"Go on…"_

"_The point I'm trying to make," _Espio said as he folded his arms, _"is that if we can cater to the rhino's more…carnal instincts, we might be able to distract him long enough to catch him." _Vector scratched his head in confusion and asked _"…What? Speak English, will ya?"_

Espio rolled his eyes in frustration and groaned bitterly as he said _"In other words, we try attract him with a female rhino and then we throw the net over him. Well, what do you think?" _Vector shrugged and said _"Well, we don't have anything else to go on so let's give it a shot! Just one thing…"_

The Commish asked with an air of irritation in his voice _"What now?" _to which the crocodile nervously replied with a caught out smile on his face _"I left the net back at the car…" _The Commish squeezed the bridge between his two eyes and sighed heavily, quietly muttering _"How can this get any worse?"_

Mighty walked over to the Commish and said _"Look, how 'bout this; while the rhino's distracted, I jump on his back and knock him out?" _to which the Commish asked _"And how are you planning to knock him out?" _Mighty folded his arms and shrugged, non-chalantly saying _"I'll figure that out when I'm riding him."_

"_Wow, riding two guys in one day; what an achievement!" _Vector teasingly said, as he nodded towards Espio. Charmy started giggling his head off while Espio, softly blushing, looked back towards the rhino, and Mighty had his hand over his forehead in embarrassment, as he muttered _"Enough."_ The Commish stared at this situation in confusion for a few seconds before he shook his head, saying _"Whatever; anyways, we have a bit of a problem about that general plan."_

"_And that would be what?" _Vector cockily asked to which the Commish replied _"There aren't any zoos in this particular region; there's no chance of finding a female rhino 'round here, let alone getting it all the way over here." _At that moment, Mighty, Espio and Vector fell onto the ground with their feet sticking up in the air.

After a few seconds, Vector rose up his head and asked _"Got any rhino floats or blow-up dolls or somethin' like that?" _to which the Commish replied _"Are you sick or something? 'Course not!" _Vector sighed frustratedly and said _"Damn." _before falling back onto the floor.

_June 31__st__, 1pm_

_Emerald Shopping Centre, Emerald Coast_

The rain had started getting much worse over the last half hour; it poured down heavily on the streets surrounding the parking lot, where the rhino was still causing havoc. The rhino would've escaped earlier had the exits not been blocked by giant barriers made of very strong steel, which were beginning to rust in the rain.

The Commish, holding an umbrella above him, observed one of the giant barriers and shook his head before walking over to some of the heavily armed troops sitting in the van, having coffee and talking about what they were planning to do later. One of the troops, a young green fox clad in riot gear, noticed the Commish standing outside and asked _"__Uh, sir, how longer is this going to take __'__til we take care of that rhino?__"_

The Commish sighed wearily and said _"__I__'__m not sure__…__those four better come up with something quickly; the barriers are starting to rust. It won__'__t be long __'__til he has a chance to get out.__"_The fox raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked _"__'__He__'__, sir?__"_to which the Commish replied _"__The rhino; he__'__s a guy, apparently.__"_before he walked away to the side of the van.

A large carpet roof was extended out as if the van was a massive motor-home and under that roof were the four detectives and Honey sitting at a table, drinking from five cups of coffee supplied by a nearby café and discussing their plans on how to catch the rhino. Or so the Commish thought…

"_What are you going on about, Mighty?__"_Vector asked with an extremely confused look on his face. Mighty took a sip from his milky coffee, cringing at the weird taste of the foam at the top, and replied _"__I__'__m saying that if two guys wanna do nasty, kinky things to each other, that__'__s fine by me. They want to do this, so who am I to judge them for it?__"_

Honey played with a black bang hanging from her head as she said _"But __aren__'__t they straight? I mean, I__'__ve seen Tom hit on women loads of times; heck, he nearly killed himself when he got dumped one time and now you__'__re telling me he plays for the other team?__"_

Mighty calmly slammed his fist on the table and replied _"__Of course! Think about it, they both live together, they try to get reactions from one another, they__'__re both naked. Even a blind man can tell what they__'__re up to.__"_Espio rolled his eyes and leaned back on his uncomfortable steel chair and asked _"__Maybe so, but isn__'__t Jerry much shorter? How would they be able to__…__get it up?__"_

Mighty rubbed his chin in thought for a few seconds before he shrugged, saying _"__You got me there.__"_Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the Commish saying _"__What the hell are you five talking about?__"_The four detectives and Honey looked over to the Commish, who stared at them in the most confused expression plastered on his face.

Mighty opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out for a few seconds until he finally looked towards the other four at the table and asked _"What were we talking about?" _Espio shrugged and replied _"We started talking about how to catch the rhino and then one thing led to another and we ended up talking about what you just heard."_

The Commish whacked his forehead with his hand and asked _"Does this mean that you've got no idea on how to catch the rhino?" _Everyone's attention turned to Vector, who was sipping on a small cup of black coffee as he scratched his massive snout with his hand. Several seconds passed until he finally said in a very relaxed matter _"How 'bout we distract it long enough for Mighty to stop it?"_

The Commish folded his arms and frustratedly asked _"How?! How do you distract it and how does Mighty stop the rhino?!" _Vector waved a hand in front of the Commish, saying _"Whoa, calm down, Commish. Ya shouldn't get your panties in a kn-" _to which the Commish interrupted by very angrily shouting _**"I'LL CALM DOWN WHEN YOU TWATS ACTUALLY FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE DOING!"**_

The four detectives and Honey leaned away from the angered Overlander in fear as he continued _"Those barriers keeping the rhino from escaping are rusting in this stupid rain; if you idiots don't get your act together, I'm giving the order to put him out of his misery!" _pointing towards the rusting steel barriers blocking the exits.

"_We'll think of something; just give us more time!" _Mighty said as he got up from his chair and stood in front of the Commish, who pinched the bridge between his eyes and replied _"We may not have enough time; we've been tracking that rhino for the last five days and this may be our only chance to get this over with!"_

"_**Then finish it in a way that doesn't involve killing it!" **_Mighty angrily replied as his eyes clenched up in rage and he suddenly grabbed the Commish by his collar. Espio's eyes widened out, Charmy quickly hid behind the shocked Honey and Vector got up from the table, leaning over to Mighty and saying _"Mighty! Calm down fa crap's sake!" _while the armadillo lividly stared at the Commish for a few seconds, even snarling at him, before he realised what he was doing and let go of the Overlander's collar.

"_S-s-sorry 'bout that…" _Mighty softly said as he looked down to the floor in disgust and guilt, _"I-it's just…I can't stand it whed other people…or anything, really, has to die. 'Specially when there's a chance to avoid it." _The Commish stared at the guilty armadillo, unsure of what to make of what just happened.

Remembering his first duty is to help people, no matter the circumstances, he brushed his collar and sternly said _"Don't worry 'bout it; I understand. Just don't do it again, alright?"_ Mighty sighed wearily and slowly looked up at the Commish, saying _"O-okay." _as a weak smile appeared on his face.

"_Anyways," _the Commish said, as he put his hands into the pockets seen on his trench coat, _"there's still the problem of how you're going to distract the rhino and stop it." _Charmy peeked out from behind Honey and said _"We could use a red blanket to distract it and then Mighty could jump on the rhino and smash it into a wall."_

The Commish stroked his chin as he said _"Well, the blanket bit's got me stumped but crashing the rhino into a wall would be hard enough to knock him out but not too hard that the thing would be killed. Alright, that's your last chance! You five know what to do. Get to it!"_

Espio, Charmy and Honey rose up from their seats and alongside Vector and a rejuvenated Mighty proudly said _"Right!" _before walking off to face the rhino one last time. On the way, Vector asked the young bee _"Charmy, how come ya never told me that you could come up with something that great?" _to which Charmy shrugged and replied _"Well, you never asked." _

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 26/Feb/2013_

_(Well, we're about halfway done with this episode; only two chapters left to go until the end of this episode. Will our heroes finally catch the rhino and get paid? Will that mystery escapade between Mighty and Espio finally be cleared up? Find out in the next two chapters for the ultimate conclusion!_

_Fun fact: I was actually planning to do something with the lady rhino plan until I figured it might not work as well as I might've though so I decided to scrap that and continue with what I brought up at the end of this chapter._

_As usual, tell me what you though of this silly chapter and the episode so far and suggest any improvements that I can make to my writing, if there are any. Until we meet in the next chapter, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000_

_NOTE: This is yet another recut I decided to do in order to fix a few issues I had with the story; adding in a few more details to explain things more, bringing in portions from the next chapter to improve the overall quality. However it turns out, I hope you enjoy the improved version.)_


	16. 03 Rhino Hunters - 4 of 5

_June 31__st__, 1:05pm_

_Emerald Shopping Centre, Emerald Coast_

"_Well Dennis, despite the rain pouring down heavily on the city, as you can see, it hadn't stopped the crowd's enthusiasm from wanting to watch the Chaotix fail in the most hilariously inept fashion. Yes, most of these people are going to be soaking by the time they get home, which is even worse for the furry Mobians in the crowd._

_And yes, some of them were bound to get sick but by God, they're going to watch the Chaotix screw up colossally even if it kills them. Will they able to catch the rampaging rhino or will things go as usual?…What do you think? This is Scarlet Garcia, reporting for Neutronic News Network, signing off. Back to you, Dennis" _A camera crew in front of a young tanned Overlander woman began packing up as the woman herself walked back to a nearby news van to get ready for the next report.

Meanwhile, as the crowd and the news crew gleefully anticipated the chaos about to ensue, the four detectives and Honey walked out from the van to a guard rail in front of the crowd to look over the situation; the rhino had noticed that the steel barriers were starting to rust and was head butting large trucks, launching them towards the barriers and taking them down bit by bit. It would only be a matter of time before one of the barriers collapsed, leading to the rhino's escape.

Espio sighed softly and asked _"Well, what do we now? It won't be long before Ramby can escape…" _Vector stroked his chin for a few seconds until he said _"I think what we need to do first is get some support from the crowd." _Espio raised an eyebrow, asking _"How will that help us out?"_

Vector pointed towards the news van nearby and said _"We're gonna be on da news this afternoon; if we get this right, we'll get all sorts of cases rollin' in! To do that, we need ta make da right impression." _to which Espio asked in a dead-pan manner _"And how do we go about that?"_

Vector looked around him and noticed a megaphone lying on a small crate next to the police van. He walked over to the crate, picked up the megaphone and turned it on, testing his voice by speaking _**"Is this thing workin'?" **_He moved his mouth away from the speaker and thought that he needed a better test for quality.

He thought about this for a second until he had an idea that to him was gold and so, he blurted into the megaphone _**"So who else thinks Espio and Mighty make a good couple?!" **_Almost instantly, everyone in the crowd and around him looked at him in surprise.

Mighty turned around and blushed red once again, stammering _"C-c-can we drop this stupid pairing?!" _while Espio whacked his face with his palm, muttering _"Baka, baka, baka…" _The Commish looked at Vector with wide, confused eyes as he said to himself _"How the hell did he get that?" _Vector turned his head and noticed that all eyes were on him, telling him that the quality was good enough.

And so, he started talking into the megaphone again, saying _**"AFTERNOON Y'ALL!" **_blasting his nasally, Brooklyn accent into the denizens of the crowd, some of whom started to block their ears in response. The cocky croc continued _**"This is the Chaotix Crew, the best detectives in all of Mobius, speakin' to you guys today!" **_as he pointed towards the crowd in a really enthusiastic manner.

The Commish ran over to Vector, shouting _"You're not allowed to use one of those without my permission!"_, and tried to grab the megaphone off the crocodile, who proceeded to keep the Commish at arms length by pushing at his face with one hand and holding the megaphone in the other, while he continued _**"Anyways, we've come all the way to the rich streets of Station Square to take care of a little problem y'all have been havin' for the last few days!"**_

The crowd stared on in confusion as the Commish broke away from Vector's push and proceeded to jump through the air like he was in a John Woo flick in order to catch the megaphone. The crafty Vector however saw through this and quickly ducked under the Commish, who ended up flying into a nearby camera crew.

Vector stood back up and pointed towards the rampaging rhino in the parking lot, saying _**"And don't worry; 'cause we're gonna take care of that psychotic rhino, even if it kills us! And why? 'Cause you've the Chaotix Crew on the case!" **_as he turned around and gave a giant thumbs up to the crowd.

Espio, Honey, Charmy and Mighty, along with everyone in the crowd, stared at the confident crocodile in complete bewilderment for about a minute until someone from the crowd shouted out _"Lol, NO!" _which lead to the crowd laughing their heads off in the sheer stupidty of what they just saw.

The Commish got up from the pile of bodies he crashed into and walked over to Vector, angrily snatching back the megaphone, as he muttered _"Idiot…" _Vector looked at the Commish with mouth agape and then looked the crowd hysterically laughing at what he'd just said; hell, there were even some people rolling on the floor with tears in their eyes.

Vector stared at this for several seconds before he sighed wearily and slumped back over to the guard rail and his allies, with his head aimed right to the floor. He leaned on the rail and had his head in his arms, mumbling something along the lines of _"Stupid, stupid, stupid…"_

Mighty knew something was wrong with Vector and so, he walked over to Vector and started patting his back, saying _"C'mon Vector, cheer up…you can make all the Esighty jokes that you want, if it'll make you happy." _Espio folded his arms and looked at the depressed crocodile as he said _"While I hate that Mighty came up with a shipping name, I have to agree with his sentiment; you can't just give up because a hundred or so people laughed at you."_

Honey went over to Vector and said _"Look, I'll give you a discount at the Sparkling Emerald if you want. Just…snap out of it." _Charmy flew up in front of Vector and put on big puppy-dog eyes, saying _"Yeah, uncle Vec. If you can't be cheery, who will?" _Vector didn't respond at all; he didn't cheer up, he didn't reply to anything his friends had said to him, he just kept his head in his arms, embarrassed and ashamed of what he had done.

Honey sighed and looked over at the crowd behind her laughing like an asylum of mad fools with a feeling of anger and injustice in her eyes. She sternly walked over to the Commish, who had been leaning on the side of the van cleaning crocodile spit off the megaphone with part of his trench coat, and asked _"Can I borrow that for a minute?" _pointing at the megaphone in the man's hands.

The Commish looked at her and replied _"As long as you don't give it to Vector, you can go ahead. Just don't get it dirty again, alright?" _as he tossed the megaphone over to Honey, who barely caught it with two hands. She walked back over to the trio trying to no avail to get Vector to cheer up and said _"Hey Chicky. Catch." _Mighty turned his head just in time to catch the megaphone that had been thrown in his direction.

He looked down on the megaphone he was holding with one hand and then looked up at Honey as he asked _"What do you want me to do with this?" _to which she replied as she leaned back on the guard rail _"Make a speech. That's all." _Mighty looked at the megaphone with uncertainty in his eyes and said _"I don't know…I'm not great at making speeches. I've never done one before."_

Honey turned her head to look at him and asked _"Don't know 'til we try; but please, do it for Vector. Might cheer the big guy up." _as she placed her hand on the hand Mighty still had on the guard rail. Mighty blushed softly but looked down at the megaphone that he'd been holding with a loose grip. After a few seconds, he'd finally made up his mind and gripped onto the megaphone tightly as he nodded, saying _"Okay. For Vector."_

He walked off to face the crowd, turned on the megaphone's speaker and lifted it up, speaking into it _**"Is this thing working?…Hello?" **_The fact that the crowd was still howling with laughter was apparent but he decided to keep talking in the hope that someone would listen.

So he nervously spoke into the megaphone again _**"H-hey there, everyone. I'm Mighty the Armadillo of the Chaotix Crew…those guys you're laughing at right now, and I just wanna tell you that we're gonna do our best and catch the rhino." **_It seems that this had no affect on the possibly insane audience, nor did it seem to cheer Vector up as the croc still had his head in his hands.

Mighty grew angrier when he realized that he wasn't helping at all. Still, there was a stubborn part of him that wouldn't give up and he knew he had to at least try so he took a deep breath and spoke again _**"Look…I know that we haven't been the best detective agency around; we've caused our fair share of trouble, we've only made some things worse when we didn't mean to and I know a lot of you have had bad experiences with us before."**_

"_**However," **_Mighty said with an air of confidence, _**"that doesn't mean we can't do this. I don't care what the hell any of you think; we're not giving up just because you're laughing at us, and certainly not because we're tackling a very dangerous rhino." **_By now, some of the crowd had stopped laughing and actually started paying attention to the armadillo's rambling. Overhearing all this, Vector got his head out of his hands and looked over to Mighty with a stunned look on his face.

"_**Even if we get horribly injured, come sunshine or snow, we're not gonna stop 'till we catch that rhino once and for all! And you know why?" **_Mighty said as he pointed towards the sky in a very over-the-top fashion,_** "'Cause we're the Chaotix Crew, the only detective agency in Mobius that's got an invisible chameleon, a super-strong armadillo, a crazy little bee and the horniest crocodile this side of town!"**_

Everyone in the crowd had stopped laughing and was looked as if they were actually taking him seriously; to the point where one of the guys from the camera crew decided to record what was going on. Back at the guard rail, Espio, Charmy and Honey stared on, hoping that this would work, while Vector watched what was going on with a contemplative but proud look on his face.

As the rain slowed down and the sun started to peek out from the clouds, forming lovely rays of sunshine, Mighty continued his hammy speech _**"I ain't giving up 'til we've got that rhino captured, we've gotten paid and Vector gets laid tonight! And if you think we can't do anything right, then who the hell do you think we are?!" **_Finally finishing his over winded speech, Mighty threw the megaphone back over to the Commish, who along with the rest of the crowd looked on with a strange look on his face, as he walked back over to his friends at the guard rail.

Mighty sighed softly and nervously chuckled, scratching his head as he asked _"Well, there you go; how'd I do?" _His response was Vector coming over to give him a giant bear-hug, saying _"Dammit, I'm proud of ya, Mighty!" _as he proudly laughed for what the armadillo had just done. Mighty, actually feeling proud of himself for once, patted Vector's back and said _"Thanks, Vec. Now how 'bout we take care of that rhino?"_

Vector finally ended his bear-hug and nodded with a content grin on his face, saying _"Yeah…" _Charmy noticed some kind of sparkle near Vector's eyes and flew over to him, asking _"Hey Vec, you've got something in your eye. What is it?" _Vector rubbed his eyes and feeling something wet, rubbed off the rest of it with his arm, as he said _"It's nothing, Charmy. Anyways, how 'bout we take care of Ramby, get paid and go home?" _with his usual cheerful tone returning to his voice.

Espio chuckled softly as he got off the guard rail, saying _"Back to normal, are we?" _to which the crocodile happily nodded before he pointed towards the rhino in the parking lot, saying _"And now it's time ta take care of that blasted rhino once and fa all!" _The four detectives and Honey jumped over the guard rail and stood confidently in front of the rhino, who had nearly gotten one of the barriers down.

Vector whispered to his team mates _"Hey guys, got any ideas on how to distract the rhino?" _to which Espio replied _"Don't worry; Honey, Charmy and I will distract him and then it'll be up to you and Mighty to take care of him." _Vector raised an eyebrow and asked _"Why do I have at help take care a him?" _Espio simply smirked and said _"Well, who would get it up with a guy who didn't help take the rhino down?"_

Vector sighed jokingly and said _"Fair enough." _before he pointed towards the psychotic rhino and shouted _"HEY RAMBY!" _The rhino instantly stopped in its tracks and looked at the five people facing it, with the cocky crocodile in front saying _"Sorry Ramby, but your carnage is over; it's time you went back to da zoo!" _Charmy flew up to Vector and asked _"But Vector, there isn't a zoo around here." _

Vector's cheerful expression turned into an irritated one as he looked at Charmy and tiredly said _"Can't I just get a good one-liner without someone hatin' on it?" _before he and his friends took on an offensive stance towards the rhino, basically declaring that it's on. The rhino started charging towards the Chaotix Crew at a fierce pace but just barely missed them as Vector and Mighty rolled away to the left while Espio, Honey and Charmy jumped away to the right, which lead to the rhino crashing into the small walkway above.

_(Time for some epic music: Gurren Lagann - Ten wo Tsuke!)_

Vector got up from the ground and called out _"So you guys know what ta do?" _Espio, Honey and Charmy gave him a confident thumbs-up so he patted Mighty on the back, confidently telling him _"Alright, follow me, pal." _before running off to several still standing vehicles, quickly followed by the black armadillo.

The rhino, recovering from its bash into the walkway, shook its head and noticed the crocodile and armadillo running towards the center of the parking lot and was about to chase after them when a little bee appeared in front of its face, teasingly sticking out his tongue and jokingly spanking himself with a cheeky grin of his face before flying off towards the cat and chameleon running away.

The rhino became very cross and slammed his hoof against the solid ground, even causing a slight crack to appear, before he charged off towards the three Mobians running away. Knowing that it would catch up to them soon, Espio picked up a small rock and threw it at the rhino as he gave it a cheeky middle finger.

The rhino grew even more enraged and chased after Espio, who

ran in a different direction from Honey and Charmy, making sure the rhino wouldn't hit those two. He ran as quickly as he could for a while until he made a sharp turn near one of the sides of the shopping centre and immediately concealed himself into his surroundings.

The rhino quickly showed up soon after but stopped in its tracks and looked around, trying to find the blasted chameleon. After several seconds, the rhino gave up and went back towards the parking lot, hoping to find the other people who pissed it off. It found Honey and Charmy also running for the center of the parking lot and set its sights on tackling the bee who started this whole mess.

It focused its charge and leaned forward with its horn, hoping to impale the young bee in a very gruesome fashion. Meanwhile, Mighty and Vector were in the center, climbing up to the top of a van that was still whole when Mighty noticed the rhino charging towards Charmy and Honey. Mighty was about to drop down and run over to them when Vector pulled him up onto the roof, saying _"Don't worry 'bout it; they can take of themselves."_

The rhino was already within twenty feet of Charmy and Honey, about to gut them when Honey jumped into Charmy and rolled away from the rhino, holding onto the young bee tightly. The rhino didn't stop in its tracks as it saw the armadillo and crocodile from earlier on the roof on a van fifty feet away and thus continued running at a great speed.

Vector took on a cautious (well, for Vector anyways) stance and prepared himself for what was about to happen, saying _"Alright Mighty, on da count a three, we jump onto Ramby." _The rhino charged closer and closer towards the van, intending to tear the whole thing apart with its razor sharp horn.

"_One…"_

The rhino's speed seemed to be getting even faster than before as it looked at the two Mobians with pure unadulterated rage in its eyes, ready to tear them apart.

"_Two…"_

Mighty prepared himself to jump onto the rhino, nervously gulping as he was honestly kinda scared about what was about to happen. The rhino finally reached the van and began tearing through the steel vehicle.

"_THREE!" _Vector shouted as he and Mighty jumped onto the psychotic rhino charging through the van. They successfully landed on its back and sat down on it, with Vector in front holding onto the horns on the rhino's head and Mighty holding onto Vector for dear life.

Vector cheerfully laughed and shouted _"Hey Mighty, if you wanna hold onto a guy, can't it be Espio?!" _to Mighty's further embarrassment, _"Anyways, now to stop this crazy ride…" _Vector tightened his grip on the horns and tried to steer the rhino around, remembering he'd seen this kind of strategy in one of the games back at the Chaotix HQ. However, it just succeeded in making the rhino aware of the two detectives on its back and in response, it started wildly bucking to throw them of its back.

Vector decided not to try steer it anymore but still kept a tight grip on the horns so he wouldn't be thrown off. Mighty clutched up to Vector's back, hoping that he wouldn't fall off, when he noticed some kind of black, shiny thing around the rhino's neck. He tapped onto Vector's shoulder and said _"Hey Vec, do you see that thing around Ramby's neck?" _pointing toward the mysterious object.

Vector grinned as he said _"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" _before he grabbed the strange object and proceeded to pull it out with all his might. He tore the thing of the rhino's neck and almost instantly, the rhino stopped in its tracks and looked around with a very confused look on its face.

After a few seconds, Vector and Mighty assumed it was safe to get off and jumped down, walking towards the rhino's head. Shortly after, Espio, Honey and Charmy caught up with them and Espio, scratching his chin with a curious look on his face, asked _"What's going on?"_

Mighty simply shrugged in confusion while Vector peered his head closer to that of the scared looking rhino and calmly asked _"Ramby?" _offering out his hand to it. The rhino looked at Vector and when it noticed the hand, began rubbing off it with a small smile on its face.

Vector grinned and gave his friends a very confident thumbs-up as he told them _"Mission accomplished, guys!" _to which they started cheering; Charmy flew up and down in the air, repeatedly shouting _"Yippee! We did it! We did it!"_, Espio folded his arms and chuckled, and Honey gave Mighty a big celebratory bear-hug for a few seconds before she realized what she was doing and promptly stopped hugging, leaving her and Mighty blushing like two very ripe strawberries.

_June 31__st__, 1:45pm_

_Emerald Shopping Centre, Emerald Coast_

The rain had stopped completely and the clouds in the sky were gone, leaving behind a lovely clear blue sky and a bright yellow sun that shone down on the once again safe, peaceful streets of Emerald Coast. Back at the shopping centre, a clean-up crew had appeared to take care of the damage left behind by the rhino, who was currently standing nearby the Chaotix as they tried to explain their situation.

"_Can you please explain to me why Ramby here was crazy as a loon one minute and then all happy the next?" _the Commish asked with a confused and bewildered look on his face. Vector confidently replied _"The answer I think is this!" _as he showed a strange black neck device to the Commish, _"I think poor Ramby was under mind control by some other party; the poor thing didn't mean to do any damage."_

The Commish leaned forward, observing the object as he scratched his chin, saying _"Even if he didn't mean it, unfortunately, he still did it. I'm sorry but sometimes the actions matter more than the intentions and for that, I'll have to take him away." _The rhino seemed to understand what was just said as he looked down with a disappointed look on his face.

Vector scratched the back of the rhino's ear to comfort the poor fella and said _"Don't worry, Ramby. At least you're still alive and back ta normal. Too bad Susan's gonna be pissed!" _Almost as if someone had summoned her, Susan appeared out of the blue followed by a tanned Overlander carrying a closed umbrella and upon seeing Ramby back to normal, she ran over to him saying _"Ramby, you're okay! Oh, I've been so worried about you!" _as she stroked the rhino's now content face.

The Commish cleared his throat and said _"I'm sorry Miss Ella but Ramby has caused a lot of damage over the last several days. Because of this, I'll have to take him away for a while." _Susan's smile turned into a frown as she heard this and she looked at Ramby, saying _"I'll wait for you, little guy." _before he was escorted by ten armed troops to a police van.

Ramby was put into the van, which then drove off into the distance, leaving an awkward silence in the air for a few seconds until Vector asked _"Well Susan, since we found Ramby for ya, does that mean we get paid?" _Susan sighed as she took out her wallet, checking to see if she had enough and pulled out 5,000 Mobucks in notes, giving it to Vector with a depressed expression on her face.

Vector took the notes but when he saw how awful Susan looked, he gave her back 2,000 Mobucks in notes, saying _"Actually, keep some of it. You might need it." _Susan's eyes widened out slightly as she wasn't expecting this so she took the notes back, saying _"T-thank you."_

"_Now onto more important matters," _Vector asked as he put on his smooth voice again and leaned towards Susan in a seductive fashion, _"how 'bout the dinner we promised?" _to which she replied _"Sorry but I can't; have you met my boyfriend butler, Tanaka, by the way?" _thumbing towards the tanned Overlander behind her.

Espio, Mighty and Vector's eyes widened out and their jaws dropped upon hearing this and Vector stammered _"H-h-hold on, why didn't ya t-tell me that you were dating an O-Overlander?!" _to which Susan said _"I guess I just wanted to mess with your head is all. Thanks for saving Ramby, by the way. See ya later." _with a goofy smile on her face as she and Tanaka walked away.

Vector stared in bewilderment for a few seconds before he sighed and said _"Can't win 'em all I guess. Oh well, at least we got paid. Now, how's about we go down to da Sparklin' Emerald and get us some food to eat?!" _to which he received a cheerful, unanimous approval from everyone, even the Commish, who figured he may as well get a free meal from someone who had 3,000 Mobucks on him.

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 5/Mar/2013_

_(We're nearly there; we've caught the rhino but there's still the mystery of what happened the night before, along with a few other things, to be taken care of so tune in next time for a conclusion to that strange mystery._

_Like before, tell me what you think of this chapter as well as the rest of the episode so far and if I can make any improvements to my writing. And with that, until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	17. 03 Rhino Hunters - 5 of 5

_June 31__st__, 2:20pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

"_Here's ta getting paid for once!" _Vector triumphantly stated as fives glasses clinked together above the crowded table filled to the brim with food. Due to having about 3,000 Mobucks, Vector splashed out an enormous meal for himself and everyone who helped as his own way of saying thanks.

Mighty was having a trio of very nice looking chilli dogs, Honey was eating up a sizeable breaded chicken sandwich, Vector gave himself the honour of the biggest cheese and pepperoni pizza the place could possibly have, Charmy was gobbling up a very tasty mountain of sausages and ice cream, Espio decided to not indulge and just had a medium sized bowl of ramen and even the Commish was treating himself to a large cheese and ham bagel with a small cup of coffee.

Mighty ate part of his first chilli dog, enjoying the delicious taste, as he asked _"Hey Commish, how come you came along with us?" _to which the Commish replied after drinking some of his coffee _"Well, it's not every day that someone with 3 grand in Mobucks offers to buy a big meal for everyone so I thought I'd tag along."_

Mighty continued to eat his chilli dog while the Commish stroked his chin and wondered out loud _"I'm still confused as to who would try put a mind-control device on a rhino." _to which Charmy replied _"I know, right? I mean, rhinos are the cutest little animals on the planet. They can't even fly, let alone hurt something!" _before diving back into his dairy-meat meal.

Espio looked up from his ramen and stared at Charmy, asking _"Charmy, I'm pretty sure you're thinking about penguins, not rhinos!" _In response, Charmy lifted his ice-cream covered face out of his meal and asked _"So what's the difference?" _Espio rolled his eyes, groaning in a very dead-pan manner, and went back to eating his ramen.

Vector was enjoying a very delicious looking slice of pizza as he asked Honey _"So, how much is this all gonna cost?" _to which she replied _"I think it's only about 100 Mobucks." _Vector scratched his nose as he said _"So that leaves 'bout 2,900 Mobucks…alright, here ya go!" _as he took out his wallet and took out about 1,500 Mobucks in notes before giving it to Honey.

She looked at the notes with a confused look on her face and asked _"What're you giving me all this for?" _to which the crocodile replied with a big grin on his face _"I know this place that sells cars for a very cheap price; I'm sure y'all find somethin' for it."_

Remembering that her car had been smashed through by the rhino earlier on, Honey smiled and said _"Thanks, Vector. It means a lot. But what are you gonna do with the rest of your money?" _Vector happily replied _"Easy!" _before he took out 600 Mobucks in notes and gave 200 each to Mighty, Espio and Charmy, saying _"Here's ya payment fa doin' a great job, guys!"_

Mighty chuckled and said _"Thanks a lot, Vec." _before leaning towards Espio with a cheeky grin on his face, saying _"And you said this job wasn't gonna pay well." _Espio stopped eating his ramen and shrugged non-chalantly as he said _"Fair enough; I guess I was wrong for once."_

He turned his head to Vector and asked _"So what're you going to do with the last 800, Vector?" _to which Vector replied as he dug into another pizza slice _"Well, another 200's for myself and then I'll try get one of those cheap laptops; it's about tiem the greatest detectives in Mobius got hooked up to the interwebs! After that, I'll leave the rest of stuff like shoppin' and bills."_

"_At least it means we won't have to keep eating chilli dogs so that we don't starve to death." _Espio said with a smartass smirk on his face. Mighty leaned over to the chameleon and asked _"What do you have against chilli dogs? They kick ass!" _to which the chameleon replied _"Not when they keep wrecking the toilet every night!"_

Mighty rolled his eyes and said _"It's a chilli dog newb thing; just give it another week or two and you'll be fine." _to which Espio replied _"Hell no." _and was about to continue eating his bowl of Japanese spaghetti when Vector said _"Speaking of big floppy sausages, ya mind tellin' what happened between you two last night?"_

Mighty and Espio began blushing again as Mighty asked _"What kind of segue was that?!" _to which Vector shrugged and said _"What does it matter? Are ya gonna tell us or not?" _Mighty and Espio looked at each other for a few seconds, wondering what to do, until Mighty sighed and slunk back into his seat, saying _"Fine, I'll tell you."_

He opened his mouth to speak, with everyone at the table staring in anticipation, until he broke down in laughter, saying _"I'm sorry…I'm just really nervous about this. I don't know if I'll be able to do this."_

**Then let me take care of it!**

Mighty's antler-ears pricked up and he looked upwards as he asked _"Wait, you'll do it?"_

**Of course, I'm the narrator; I know all and see all!**

The Commish sipped some of his coffee and said _"That's pretty disturbing."_

**I'm well aware of that but even so, let's go back…to the past (or a few hours ago)!**

_June 31__st__, 4:05am (This morning)_

_Chaotix HQ, Emerald Coast_

_(WARNING: Quite a ton of yaoi overtones in this particular scene so if you don't like, be very careful, run far, far away or simply don't flame for it! Okay? Good, let's keep going! - Author)_

It was a clear night at the time; with no clouds and the moon shining brightly on the small city, casting a pale blue light over every building, road, vehicle and whatever else was in its radius. The pale blue light cast itself into a small room at the back of the Onett Department Store; this room in particular was Espio's room.

The room was kept relatively tidy, at least in comparison to Vector's complete junkyard that was somehow still considered a room; there were several anime posters plastered on the walls in a very organized fashion, a large bookcase on the side wall contained many guides on how to be a good detective, manga volumes and DVDs, with a special section dedicated to the long running Shinobi anime series.

Facing opposite the book case was a small wardrobe filled with Espio's gear; assorted pairs of gloves, socks, shoes and whatever vital equipment he'd need one day. Snuggled tightly between the bookcase and the wardrobe was a relatively large bed, with Espio and Mighty in it.

Espio seemed to be fast asleep, facing Mighty who, for one reason of another, was still awake. It seemed to be one of those nights where no matter what he did, no matter how comfortable the bed was, he just couldn't get to sleep. With his arms folded behind his head, Mighty stared out the window from the bed, looking at the now slowly-descending moon as several thoughts passed through his brain.

At the moment, he'd been thinking about how strange it was that he was here again; in the town that'd he left so long ago to travel the land and breadth of Mobius. He hadn't really expected to return to this town after so long but in a way, he was kinda glad to be back. All he hoped is that his reasons for leaving wouldn't come back to haunt him…

Mighty turned his head to look at his bedside companion, softly snoozing as if his subconscious was preparing him to wake up if any danger should arise. Mighty then started thinking about how he'd been sleeping with Espio for the last week. He himself had no real problem with it though this seemed to act as a berserk button for Espio.

They always ended up arguing about the whole sleeping arrangement, which would usually end with Mighty sleeping on the floor. Even so, the chameleon would usually become so nervous that he'd end up staying awake the whole night just to make sure that Mighty wouldn't think of doing anything in particular to him. However, this lead to the problem of Espio sleeping in and often falling asleep on the job, much to Vector's annoyance.

The truth was that Mighty had never really thought about putting the moves on Espio, especially while he was sleeping…okay, there was one occasion where Mighty jokingly lay down on the bed one night in a very suggestive fashion that ended up getting him sent back to the dreaded couch of the devil but other than that, he wouldn't really think of forcing anything upon Espio.

Suddenly, something that sounded like a shudder interrupted Mighty's thoughts and he noticed that it was Espio who was shuddering, as well as actually kind of shaking. Mighty thought that his friend was cold and turned his head to look at the window to see if it was open; it was completely closed.

Mighty was unsure as to why Espio was shaking in what was admittedly a very warm and comfortable bed but knew that he had to comfort the poor guy somehow. So he inched closer towards Espio and wrapped his arms around him in a soft but tight hug to keep him warm. While this could be taken the wrong way, Mighty didn't really care as long as his friend was alright.

It took only a few seconds for Mighty to realize that he and Espio's faces were lined up perfectly, only mere inches away from one another. Blushing softly, Mighty tried to close his eyes and get to sleep, hoping that nothing would really come out of this. About a minute or so passed in complete darkness when he suddenly heard a strange noise and a weird feeling around his mouth.

He slowly opened his eyes, which then widened out as he realized that the weird feeling around his mouth was actually his lips pressing up against Espio's. Mighty's cheeks became blood-red and his hands starting shaking wildly, as he grabbed Espio's shoulders and tried to pull away.

However, Espio's arms wrapped themselves around Mighty's back and wouldn't dare let go. Espio broke away from their little kiss to mumble something along the lines of _"C'mon Nic…don't be harsh…" _before pressing his lips up against Mighty once more. Mighty was completely and utterly confused at this point as to what was going on;

Who was this 'Nic' person? Was this some kind of weird dream he was having? Was Espio even awake? And most prominently at the time, should he really be enjoying this?

Mighty decided to just go along with the kiss for the moment and see what would happen, making sure not to do anything that would make things even worse, though he couldn't help but be a little curious about this whole situation. After about another minute of kissing that was starting to get Mighty a little hot, Espio broke away again and mumbled _"Now…how 'bout you do that thing you always love to do, Nic?"_

Espio lifted his hand and waved around the general area on his head where his protruding horn was, mumbling _"Suck on it, baby…"_. Mighty looked at the horn and gulped very nervously before he raised his head to face the horn, trying his hardest not to explode from being so damn terrified.

He took a very deep breath before inching closer to the horn, looking down to find Espio nibbling at his neck. This would've made things worse if it weren't for the fact that Espio looked as if he was actually crying. Mighty began sucking on the very tip of the horn for a few seconds, which was making his bedside partner moan seductively, until he realized that this wasn't right and promptly removed his mouth from the horn.

While the feeling of his neck being bitten was pretty damn hot to him, Mighty ignored that feeling and shook Espio for a few seconds before he finally woke up. This was where things began to go wrong; Espio opened his eyes and noticing that Mighty was only one or two inches away from his face, he slapped the armadillo right in the face, asking _"A-anta baka? What the hell were you doing, you giant moron?!"_

Mighty held his hands up defensively and replied _"Hey, don't look at me; I'm not the one that started it." _Espio raised an eyebrow, softly blushing, as he asked _"So you're saying I'm the one who started kissing you?" _to which the armadillo nodded while folding his arms, saying _"Not to mention the one who nibbled on my neck and the guy who asked me to start sucking your salty horn."_

Espio's jaw dropped at this revelation as he stammered _"M-my salty h-h-horn?" _Mighty sat up on the bed and said _"Yeah; that thing should really be less salty. And by the way, who's 'Nic'?" _Espio leaned back slightly, asking _"What?" _to which Mighty replied _"You kept mentioning this 'Nic' person while we were…doing those things." _looking away with a big blush on his face.

Espio started clutching the bed sheets in anger and sternly said _"Get out. Now." _Mighty looked at Espio with a confused expression on his face for a few seconds when the chameleon suddenly started pushing him towards the door, saying _"I don't want to see you in this room for the rest of the night, nor do I want you mentioning this to anyone…ever. So just get out!" _

Espio opened the door to the hall and pushed Mighty out before closing the door. He turned around and leaned on the door with a hand over his eyes, feeling something wet. _"Was I…crying?" _Espio silently said to himself as he rubbed his fingers together to get rid of the wet feeling on them.

After a few seconds, he wearily sighed and walked back over to his bed, climbing back into the bed sheets and prepared to get back to sleep, but not before he felt something cold, wet and kinda sticky around where his crotch usually was. He groaned, thinking _"It was that kind of dream, was it then? Bloody hell…" _as he covered his head with his blanket.

_June 31__st__, 2:27pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

**And that's pretty much what happened.**

At the table, Honey, Vector, Charmy and the Commish stared at Mighty and Espio with eyes as wide as crates and dropped jaws that practically fell right through the table. Mighty scratched his head, smiling and chucking nervously, while Espio covered his face with his hand in shame.

A few seconds passed when Vector suddenly started laughing out loud, which lead to Espio frustratedly asking _"What's so funny?!" _as he clenched his free hand up in anger. Vector gleefully replied _"That's what happened? Jeez, from the way you were going on about it, I'd figured you two had actually had s-" _when Mighty suddenly interrupted with _"Not in front of Charmy, Vec!"_

Vector rolled his eyes and continued _"Anyways, so you kissed a guy? So what? We all get a lil' curious from time to time; doesn't mean it's a bad thing." _Honey started to chuckle as well, saying _"Yeah, it's not like you tried to turn this story into a lemon fic or anything. You'll be fine, don't worry." _as she smiled softly.

Mighty's smile became a bit more comfortable as he said _"Yeah, I guess it was pretty funny." _to which Espio replied _"No, it wasn't! Do you have any idea what could've happened if we kept going?" _Mighty rubbed his chin and said _"So we might've become a thing…so? You've something against going out with a guy?"_

"_No…" _Espio said, as he sighed wearily, _"It's just going out with someone in general…sometimes you end up worse than before you went into it…" _Mighty raised an eyebrow in curiosity and asked _"How would you know? Has this happened before?" _Espio's eyes darted back and forth between Mighty and the floor for a few seconds before he sat back and continued eating his ramen in silence.

"_Oh…" _Mighty said as his antler-ears lowered in disappointment. A few seconds passed in silence before Vector rubbed his hands together and said _"Well, how 'bout we get some music on? I hear there's a jukebox 'round here, so how 'bout we put somethin' on?" _before getting up from the table and walking towards the jukebox at the end.

Charmy flew out from the chair and went towards Vector, asking _"Hey Vector, can I pick somethin'?" _to which Vector replied in the distance _"Sure, but only after me!" _Back at the table, the Commish shook his coffee cup and feeling that it was pretty light, asked _"Hey Espio, wanna help me get a refill?"_

Espio looked up from his ramen bowl and thought about this for a few seconds until he shrugged and replied _"Sure, why not?" _Espio and the Commish got up from the table and walked over to the counter to get a refill, leaving Mighty and Honey alone at the table, sitting next to each other.

From nearby, the sound of coins being inserted into the jukebox played out as Vector looked through what tracks were in the jukebox that he could listen to. After about a minute, he finally picked a track, which the jukebox began playing. After a few seconds, the café was filled with a smooth, almost beautiful fusion of jazz and orchestra with a lovely, soft female voice singing in the forefront.

_Fly me to the moon…_

_And let me play among the stars…_

Honey leaned closer to Mighty, asking _"Remember what we said about taking care of 'that' incident from this morning?" _Mighty began blushing again and nervously stammered _"Y-y-yeah." _to which she placed her hand on his and asked _"So…what do you wanna do about it?" _as she leaned even closer towards his face like this morning.

_Let me see what spring is like…_

_On Jupiter and Mars…_

Mighty thought about this for a few seconds until he rolled his eyes, saying _"All right."_, and went right up to Honey's face, pressing his lips up against hers. Her eyes widened out at first but soon, they closed as she put her arms around in his neck. While the two were blushing like blood-red tomatoes, they certainly wouldn't be embarrassed in they were caught by their friends at that moment.

_In other words…_

_Hold my hand…_

After kissing for felt like an eternity (albeit a very good eternity), they finally stopped kissing and just held each other in their arms as Honey said _"That wasn't…what I was expecting to happen." _Mighty tilted his head and asked _"Does that mean it was a bad thing?" _as he leaned forward and kissed her on the nose.

_In other words…_

_Darling, kiss me…_

"_Nope." _Honey said as she softly smiled, _"but…what do we do know?" _Mighty bit his lip in hesitation, asking _"Do you mean…should we go out or…?" _to which Honey replied by simply nodding. Mighty's eyes looked away as he sighed before saying _"…I don't know. I mean, we've only known each other for about a week…is this really a good idea?"_

_Fill my heart with song…_

_And let me sing forever more…_

"_True…" _Honey asked with a look of defeat on her face, which made Mighty feel as if he let her down. Mighty softly rubbed her cheek with his hand and asked _"How about this; we give it a few months…and if something's still there, we give things a shot?"_

_You are all I long for…_

_All that I worship and adore…_

Honey smiled in a bittersweet manner as she replied _"All right…if that's what you want, Chicky." _leaning over to kiss him on his forehead. He chuckled mockingly, saying _"Are you ever gonna call me by my real name?" _to which she happily replied _"Nope!"_

_In other words…_

_Please be true…_

Mighty rolled his eyes and smiled nervously, asking _"…Do you want to kiss one more time?" _to which she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips once more. A few seconds before they finally broke away from that great kiss, blushing brightly as they began softly laughing. And soon after the music in the background finally stopped playing as the lyrics came to their conclusion.

_In other words…_

_I love you…_

The Commish and Espio finally returned to the table with another full cup of coffee and shortly after, Vector and Charmy came back from the jukebox, which at that point had begun playing 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. Espio face palmed himself as the old beats and synth played in the background, asking _"Who the hell decided to put 'that' song in?"_

Charmy folded his arms and flew over Espio, asking _"What d'ya mean; it's a good song?" _to which he replied _"Not if you're trying to look up the latest abridge episode and you get 'that' for the fifth time!" _The young bee rolled his eyes and said _"You're just being whingy again."_

Espio looked at Charmy with a frustrated expression on his face as he asked _"Since when have I ever been whingy?" _to which Vector replied _"Don't even get me started on that one." _Espio was about to shout back when he noticed that Vector had somehow gained two or three red handprints on the sides of his face.

"_What the hell happened to you?" _Espio asked as a cheeky smirk appeared on his face. Vector waved a hand about as he replied _"Tried flirtin' with a couple of chicks…didn't work out so well." _Espio chuckled and said _"Maybe you should stop getting your pick-up lines from old sites no-one uses anymore." _to which Vector replied in a smartass manner _"And maybe you should stop trying to shag guys in your sleep."_

Espio rolled his eyes and groaned as he said _"Whatever…actually, while we're on the subject, what was up with the narrator's description?"_

**What do you mean?**

"_I mean that it was very, very detailed…why? Were you deliberately trying to turn this into a lemon fic?" _Espio asked as he looked towards the ceiling.

**Honestly…yes, I was. I dunno; I might've read one too many lemons lately.**

Mighty scratched his chin as he suggested _"Then maybe you should write a lemon fic before this goes out of control?"_

**Actually, that's a great idea. I'll get to it, then!**

The sound of footsteps walking away played out as everything suddenly went black, with Mighty's voice shouting _"I didn't mean like that!"_

**The End**

_**Next time on the World's Greatest Detectives: **__In an attempt to get themselves more cases, the Chaotix try everything they can to promote their detective agency and prove they're not completely useless to more than ten people. However, they may end up getting more than they bargained for. Find out next time in __**04 - Self-Promotion! **__And don't worry, there'll still be fan service on the way!_

_Message from the Author 10/Mar/2013_

_(And that wraps up Episode 03, which I hope you've enjoyed. Originally, when I was starting out with this fic, I figured to just go up to Episode 03 and see where I'll go from there but because I love writing this and I know that some of you enjoy reading this, I'll keep going for as long as I can._

_Also, I apologize for the severe yaoi overtones for those who didn't enjoy them. By the way, I've decided to take a two-week break in order to let my creative muscles flow again so I'll see you then._

_As usual, tell me what you though of this chapter, this episode and the fanfic so far; tell me if I can make any improvements on my writing and heck, give me a couple of ideas for future episodes and I'll see what happens. Until we meet again, loyal readers and friends, have a great day y'all! -FrDougal9000)_


	18. 04 Self-Promotion - 1 of 5 (RECUT)

_July 7__th__, 1:15pm_

_Chaotix HQ, Emerald Coast_

It had been roughly a week since that particular incident involving the rhino and our four detectives had gotten paid about 3 grand in Mobucks. That night, they were amused to find that they actually had gotten on the news…at 6 in the morning. It wasn't the big time news but hey, it was something.

Since then, Vector had gone off and bought a particularly cheap laptop with wireless internet connection for about 300 Mobucks and had locked himself up in his room for the past several days. There hadn't been any cases cropping up since then, leading Mighty, Espio and Charmy to try and find various ways to make sure they didn't go completely insane from boredom.

In the front room, the incredibly uncomfortable couch of the devil was now lying on a side wall and in its former place lay a small round table with Mighty, Charmy and Espio sitting around it. The three detectives were each holding up a small batch of cards close to their respective faces as to not let their opponents see their hands.

Curiously, Espio seemed to be missing his trademark ninja gloves and his spare scarf, which strangely enough had found their way, alongside another pair of gloves and two red shoes, over to Charmy, whose eyes were darting back and forth between his two older opponents. And finally, Mighty had somehow lost his gloves and his shoes, leaving him completely naked…almost.

This would admittedly sound very odd if it weren't for a very simple fact; they were playing the ultimate time killer (aside from rock-paper-scissors, of course)…STRIP POKER. The rules work along the lines of this; the number of players involved deal their hands and the losers have to remove part of their clothes. Whoever lost all their clothes first would be the ultimate loser and would have to spend the rest of the day in the nip…yeah, this was invented by really bored, horny and lonely people, in case you're wondering.

Mighty scratched his nose and leaned back on a small folding chair, asking _"So do you think Vector's ever going to come out of his room?" _to which Espio non-chalantly shrugged as he replied _"I doubt it. Think about it; he's a horny 23 year-old who's just gained access to a wealth of internet pornography. You put it together…" _as a little cheeky smirk appeared on his muzzle.

Mighty stared at Espio in confusion for a few seconds before asking _"You do know there's a kid sitting right next to us, right?" _as he thumbed towards the young bee to his left, who was cautiously looking at his hand and his opponents. Espio put his hand down, on its frontside just in case of any peeping bees, and said _"When said kid is playing strip poker with two young adults, one of whom is completely naked," _as he pointed towards the near-nude armadillo facing him, _"I don't think mentioning pornography is the least of our problems."_

"_I'm not completely naked, partner! I've still got my trusty shell to keep me warm!" _Mighty cheerfully replied as he knocked on the red, sturdy shell that covered his back and most of his head. Espio rolled his eyes, mumbling _"Of course…" _as he picked his hand of cards back up to see if he can win this hand and get his gloves back from Charmy.

Mighty checked over his hand one last time and in response, his mouth formed into a small but confident smile as he asked _"So, you guys ready to deal yet?" _Espio shrugged, saying _"All right. Here goes." _as he placed his hand on the table for all to see; two kings, a two, a three and somehow, a joker.

Mighty stroked his chin, saying _"So, just the one pair?" _as he chuckled cockily. He then proceeded to slam out his hand, confidently stating _"Check it out! Four of a kind!" _which, sure enough, it was; four nines and an ace lay in front of Mighty, who had folded his arms and lay back on his chair, saying _"Looks like I'll be getting my shoes back…"_

"_Not so fast!" _Charmy interrupted before he put his hand down, revealing a royal flush to Mighty and Espio's complete surprise; an ace, a queen, a king, a jack and a ten made up the little bee's hand. Charmy began grinning while Mighty slumped back in his chair, mumbling _"I can't believe it. How the hell can you do that?"_

"_I ain't telling!" _Charmy replied as he folded his arms and began hovering off his chair, going over towards Mighty,_ "I'd be giving away a big secret; now pay up!" _Mighty rolled his eyes, groaning _"Fine…"_,before he grabbed the top of his shell with his two hands and pulled it off, now leaving him completely naked.

Curiously, Mighty was completely black under his red shell and the only thing to note after removing the shell was that 3 or 4 small tufts of hair had now appeared on the armadillo's previously unseen forehead. He then gave the shell over to Charmy, who held it for about two seconds with great difficulty before accidentally dropping it onto the table, crushing it in the process.

Espio stared in bewilderment at the shattered pile of wood that was formerly their poker table, with leftover cards scattered all over the place, before he turned his head to Mighty and asked _"What the hell just happened?" _Mighty began tugging on one of his tufts as he replied _"Not sure why I didn't bring this up earlier but that shell weighs about…forty kilos, I think."_

"_Least now I know why that thing was so damn heavy," _Charmy said as he placed his hands on his back and pushed it while bending backwards to fix his back, _"but how the heck can ya stand wearing that thing?" _Mighty chuckled as he continued playing with the aforementioned tuft, saying _"I know what ya mean, little buddy. It's heavy as all hell but I guess you get used to it after a while."_

Espio folded his arms and closed his eyes as he said _"Well, we've just killed the last thing to do in this pla-" _to which Mighty interrupted _"What about raiding Vector's stash and seeing if he's got anything weird?" _Without even a slight pause, Espio replied _"Well, the problem there is that stash was in the room you're sleeping in now and somehow, it's completely vanished." _He looked over to the locked room of his crocodile comrade and continued _"I'd check his room but I wouldn't want to get involved in anything…odd." _with a somewhat disgusted look on his face.

Mighty rubbed the back of his neck in thought for a few seconds when an idea popped into his head. He leaned forward and asked _"How 'bout we go to the Sparkling Emerald?" _Espio looked at Mighty and replied _"We could, but I wouldn't want to leave Vector to his own devices…"_

Mighty playfully rolled his eyes, saying _"Who cares? If he's locked himself in there, then he's on his own as far as he's concerned." _Espio stroked his chin for a moment before he shrugged as he said _"Fair enough. Let's go." _standing up and walking over to the door. He opened the door and walked away, heading for the building's front door.

Meanwhile, Mighty eagerly rose up and leaned over for his shell and his other clothes when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right hand. He screamed in agony and grabbed his now red, swollen hand in frustration, rising up to find Charmy hovering with his arms folded, a cocky smirk on his face and his stinger looking as if it had just stung someone. That's when Mighty put two and two together…

With a small tear in his eye, Mighty stared at Charmy angrily and asked _"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" _Charmy giggled and replied _"Remember the rules, Mighty; whoever loses all their clothes first has to stay naked for the rest of the day." _Mighty's jaw dropped and he pointed towards the door, saying _"I CAN'T GO WALKING ABOUT NAKED IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!"_

Charmy hovered closer to Mighty's incredibly irritated face and said _"Well, you don't seem to mind when you have your shoes and gloves on. What's the difference? People are still gonna see your junk, shoes or no shoes." _Mighty immediately covered his crotch area with his hands, blushing as red as a very angry echidna as he yelled _"But they don't see anything when I've clothes on."_

"_So there's nothing interesting to look at?" _Charmy teasingly asked with a very cheeky smile on his muzzle. Mighty raised his throbbing hands and edging them closer to Charmy as if he was about to throttle him but after a few seconds, he just screamed in frustration and walked out the door.

Charmy flew after Mighty, asking _"Aw, c'mon! It was just a joke; get over it!" _as he closed the door to the detective agency, leaving Vector on his own…

_July 7__th__, 1:45pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

The Sparkling Emerald was, like the mildly cloudy weather outside, relatively calm; the customers inside were sitting at their tables, cheerfully talking with one another about what was going on in their lives at the moment, some soft, sweet jazz was playing in the background and it seemed like a rather normal afternoon.

That was until a black naked armadillo barged into the door arguing with a small bee hovering beside him, quickly followed by a purple chameleon who had his face firmly buried in a gloveless hand in embarrassment. _"How the heck does it matter if you're wearing gloves and shoes?" _Charmy asked with a very confused look on his face, _"Your crotch is still in open view for everyone!"_

"_It's 'cause when I'm wearing something, it stops…you know what from showing up." _Mighty replied as he walked over to the counter, unaware that he was getting a lot of looks from the people around him. Charmy scratched his head and asked _"How does that work?" _Mighty opened his mouth to speak but silence passed for about two seconds before he replied _"You know, I'm not too sure myself on that one."_

Just then, a strange but somehow familiar voice said _"Who knew we started serving nudists while I was gone?" _Mighty jumped in shock before turning his head over to the direction of the counter, where he saw a large yellow cat. The cat had brown longish hair and was wearing a white t-shirt buried under a white-apron that said _"You can haz cheeseburger, pal!"_

Mighty scratched his nose in confusion as he asked _"Umm…who are you?" _to which the cat chuckled softly before cheerfully replying _"I should be askin' you that question, pal. Name's Kyle, I'm the owner of the Sparklin' Emerald here. Nice to meet ya!" _offering his hand out to Mighty. Mighty grabbed Kyle's hand and gave him a handshake, saying _"Nice to meet you too; you're Honey's dad, right?"_

Kyle grinned and replied _"Yep! Lemme guess, you're…what was it again? Umm…Curry?" _Mighty leaned forward as he began blushing, saying _"No, it's Chicky - AUGH! I mean, Mighty! Mighty the Armadillo!" _Kyle scratched his chin as he said _"Oh yeah, that's right. Sorry 'bout that, pal; she just always keeps callin' ya Chicky. How come?" _Mighty covered his face in his palm and replied _"Don't ask; I'm still trying to figure it out."_

"_Suit yourself." _Kyle said, as he walked over to where workers could get out from the counter and picked up two crutches lying on the wall. He inserted his arms into the crutches and walked around the counter to go over to the three detectives, who noticed that the yellow cat had a large cast wrapped around his left foot. He walked over to Mighty and removed one of his arms from the crutches and wrapped that arm around Mighty in a small hug.

Mighty's eyes widened out as he stammered _"W-what are you doing?" _to which Kyle replied _"Honey told me all about ya; and about how you saved her from that mugger a couple of weeks back. Thanks for doing that, pal." _Mighty's startled expression soon turned into one of contentment, as he softly smiled and said _"No problem." _Kyle patted the armadillo's back before putting his arm back into the crutch and looking over to Charmy and Espio, asking _"So where's Vector?"_

"_He bought a laptop about a week ago and he's been stuck in his room since then," _Espio replied with a rather annoyed look on his face, _"problem is there haven't been any cases in the last week so we've been bored out of brains." _Kyle sat down on a nearby chair, stroking his chin as he asked _"And you ended playing strip poker? That would certainly explain why Chicky's in the nip." _as he looked over towards the naked armadillo, who sheepishly nodded.

"_So what are ya planning on doing now that you're here?" _Kyle asked as he rubbed his nose. Espio folded his arms and leaned backwards slightly, replying _"We'll get something to eat and after that, we'll try get a case." _Charmy looked at Espio with a somewhat worried look on his face and asked _"But Esp, ya sure we can get a case without Vector? We've never tried before." _A smile appeared on Espio's muzzle as he said _"If that horny crocodile wants to fap to whatever's on his screen, let him. We'll be able to get a case without his help."_

"_Right…" _Kyle said as he got up from his seat and walked back to the other side of the counter, _"Until then, what would you like to eat?" _Espio opened his mouth to reply when suddenly, Honey came bursting through the door and ran over to the counter as she nervously said _"Guys, I really need your help! It's really urgent!"_

Mighty looked at her with a concerned expression plastered on his face and asked _"What's up?" _to which she worriedly replied _"My dad's gone! I went to see him this morning but he suddenly vanished! I need you to help me look for him!" _Espio looked at her and said _"Honey…" _while thumbing towards the massive yellow cat at the counter. Honey became very irritated as she replied _"This isn't the time, Espio! This is really frigging important!"_

"_Calm down, Honey." _Kyle suggested as he leaned on the counter with his arms removed from the crutches. Honey looked at him very briefly, saying _"No Dad, I won't calm down!" _and looked away for a few seconds before she figured things out and looked back at the big cat smiling at her. Her jaw dropped as she stammered _"D-D-D-Dad?" _Kyle chuckled for a few seconds before he said _"In the flesh."_

Honey stared at him in disbelief and frustration for a moment when she angrily replied _"You jerk! Why didn't you tell me you were checking out?!" _to which he replied _"'Cause I wanted to surprise you! Might've been a terrible idea in hindsight but hey, it's done. Sorry 'bout that, pal." _as he scratched his head, chuckling nervously.

Honey walked around to the other side of the counter and looked up at Kyle with tears slowly forming in her eyes as she said _"I was so worried about you…I thought that maybe you'd…" _when he suddenly gave her the biggest apology hug he could possibly give, whispering _"It's okay, Honey…sorry I scared you like that." _A few seconds passed in silence before Honey finally hugged back with a big smile appearing on her face.

Mighty watched this in appreciation; he didn't know why but for whatever reason, whenever someone was happy in some manner or another, he was happy too, especially at what he figured to be a heart-warming moment. However, he was suddenly brought back into reality when Charmy asked _"Hey Mighty, how come you're crying too?"_

Mighty turned his head to look at Charmy before he rubbed his eyes, feeling something wet, as he replied _"I…don't know. Just happens, I guess." _Nearby, Espio was disdainfully rolling his eyes at something that looked like it came directly from your typical family sitcom as he tapped on the counter with his fingers in a rhythmic fashion.

After about a minute passed, Kyle and Honey finally stopped hugging and looked at the three detectives at the counter. Honey's eyes widened out slightly when she noticed that Mighty was completely naked. It weirded her out somewhat that even thought Mighty was pretty much naked most of the time anyways, that he looked pretty damn attractive.

The subtle muscles that appeared on his arms, legs and even on his stomach to a degree, the fact that he was quite tall for someone his age and even those little tufts of hair on his forehead she thought were pretty cute. Apparently, she seemed to be making her stare quite obvious since Mighty looked downwards and began blushing brightly when he remembered that he was stilly fully naked.

Mighty's blushing called Honey's attention to the fact that she was staring at him and in response, she also started blushing and looked away in embarrassment. Charmy finally bothered to sit down as he jokingly said _"Awkward…" _before it was interrupted by Vector barging through the door with his laptop under his arm, announcing _"Hey guys, I've finally done it!"_

Espio looked at Vector and cheekily asked _"What? You've finally found Rule 34?" _to which the crocodile proudly replied _"Nope; that was on my first day! But anyways, I'll show ya what I've done!" _as he walked over to the counter and placed his laptop on it, opening the screen to reveal a rather unusual looking picture.

It looked like an internet browser that was displaying a giant green and yellow logo that said _"Chaotix Detective Agency - You've come to the right place!" _and below were the agency's phone number and location, along with a white square filled with a smattering of red words. Mighty, Charmy, Espio, Honey and Kyle looked at this in confusion and bewilderment for a few seconds until Espio finally asked _"What the hell is this?"_

Vector proudly stuck his chest out like he was Superman or something as he replied _"As you know, we haven't gotten any cases for the last week and I began wondering why." _to which Espio replied _"Maybe because we screw up nine out of ten cases." _followed by Charmy suggesting _"People just plain don't like us."_

Vector confidently shook his head, saying _"Wrong! It's because our advertising is completely terrible; the most we've made in the last year and a half was a shoddy poster put up in a town like 50 miles away!" _as he raised his hand to epically point over to the screen shown on the laptop _"So I decided to get us connected up to the interwebs; in short, I've made a Chaotix website!"_

The other five people at the counter just stared with widened eyes at the crocodile, who believed that he was getting an applause from at least a thousand people, as he bowed gracefully while he said _"Well, what do you think? There's a bit of work to be done but hey, nothing worth trying is easy." _to which Honey asked _"Do you even know how to create extras to the website; links, pages, videos and stuff like that?"_

"_Nope!" _Vector replied with an extremely confident look on his face, _"but I do know someone that does! And that's why I'm here; so I can take you guys to see 'im! C'mon, Chaotix Crew; to the train station!" _as he grabbed the laptop and ran out the door, leaving the other three detectives to look on in complete and utter bamboozlement.

Mighty looked over to Charmy and Espio and asked _"Should we follow him?" _to which Espio replied _"He can wait; besides, if my suspicions are correct, we don't need to hurry. The train to the cliffs doesn't leave until 2:25." _Mighty tilted his head and raised an eyebrow as he asked _"How do you know what time that train leaves at?"_

Espio stared in Mighty's direction with a look of regret and reminiscence before turning his head and asking _"Can we take our orders now?" _Mighty shrugged and looked back over to the counter, thinking _"Wonder what his problem is…"_

_July 7__th__, 2:20pm_

_Blazing Speedways, Emerald Coast_

Inside a massive brown building standing tall amongst its peers in a very busy city square was an enormous set of stairs, as well as a couple of escalators for the disabled and lazy. These set of stairs _(and escalators, can__'__t forget about them) _led up to a large platform, populated with a bloody massive crowd of people coming and going as if someone in charge had decided to broadcast The Room on national television…again.

Nearby was a set of train tracks under a large glass ceiling that gave view to the still relatively cloudy sky. Trains came and went on the aforementioned tracks, picking up new passengers just as quickly as it threw them off. And finally on a wall facing the set of tracks was a small bench, on which sat a green crocodile who was beginning to get very, very annoyed.

"_Where da hell are those three eedjets?__"_Vector irritably grumbled as he tapped his finger on his closed laptop repeatedly. He looked through the crowd for about the ten thousandth time that afternoon, at least, to see if his three comrades had shown up. But to no avail, they still hadn't appeared, much to Vector's disappointment as he groaned and leaned on the wall.

It wasn't as if he was going blind or something; you'd have to be particularly blind not to pick out a purple chameleon with ninja gear, a black armadillo in the nip and a quite insane little bee flying about from the crowd. He had thought that maybe they maybe they hadn't heard him but then he remembered - he was the Great Vector!

How could anyone ignore someone as memorable and awesome as Vector the Crocodile, the leader of the greatest detectives in town and by far, the sexiest reptile this side of Mobius?…At least, that's what he kept thinking to himself. He leaned forward and took his ten thousand and first search through the crowd but like the last thirty-five minutes, they weren't anywhere to be seen.

"_Ugh__…"_Vector groaned wearily, rubbing his eyes with his hand, _"__Maybe I shoulda stayed home__…__wonder if they really care enough to bother showing up__…"_He sighed and stared down at the floor for a few seconds, contemplating whether or not to give up and go home. Unable to make up his mind, he lifted his head and noticed a clear bottle filled with what looked like lemonade sitting on the bench next to him.

He looked around to see if there was anyone who was running up to the bench to retrieve the drink and when it looked like no-one was concerned about it, he picked up the bottle, opened the cap and took a mighty swig of it. It did taste a little off but hey, as long as he didn't even have to pay for it, he'd even drink day-old piss if he was bored enough.

Vector stopped drinking from the bottle to get some air when he heard a strange yawning sound that seemed to be coming from down below. He looked under the bench to find a green hedgehog with a very odd looking mohawk wearing a very tattered looking open-zipped jacket and shoes yawning his head off. The hedgehog scratched his arse and, upon noticing the upside-down crocodile observing him, asked _"__Mornin__'__.__"_

"_It__'__s two in the afternoon!__"_Vector replied with an utterly bamboozled look on his face, _"__how long have ya been sleepin__'__?__"_The hedgehog pondered this, though it was hard to tell since his expression looked as if he was about to go right back to sleep, and after a few seconds, finally said _"__Got no clue.__"_Vector groaned once more, rolling his eyes in annoyance, and lifted his head back up to have an extra sip of the lemonade bottle.

The green hedgehog rolled out from under the bench and stood up, swaying about as he tried to regain his balance. He saw Vector taking yet another mighty swig from his drink and after a moment or two, he said _"__I don__'__t think you should be drinkin__'__ that.__"_Vector stopped drinking just long enough to ask _"__And why should I? I don__'__t see your name on it.__"_before bringing the bottle back to his enormous snout.

The hedgehog crossed his arms and replied _"__Thing is__…__I had a wild night and I couldn__'__t find a toilet so__…__I went into that.__"_pointing towards the bottle that was just about to lose the last bit of yellow liquid to Vector's taste buds. Almost instantly upon hearing this, Vector spat out whatever he had in his mouth and that point and stared at the bottle with a look of complete disgust as he asked _"__W-why da hell didn__'__t ya put this in da bin or something__'__?__"_

In response, the hedgehog very non-chalantly shrugged, as if he was used to the sight of people accidentally drinking other people's pee. Vector stuck his tongue out and rubbed it as hard as he could _(__…__sounds like a passage from a lemon fic, doesn__'__t it?)_ to get rid of the taste but unfortunately the weird, stingy taste still lingered on in his taste buds. He sucked his tongue back into his mouth and said _"__At least that explains the funny taste__…"_

"_What funny taste?__"_a familiar deep, contemplative voice asked, leading to Vector turning his head to the right to find Espio, Mighty and Charmy standing next to the bench. Vector threw the bottle away as he nervously stammered _"__N-nothing, you__'__re just h-hearin__'__ things!__"_Espio cheekily smiled and leaned over to Vector, saying _"__You drank some hobo__'__s urine again, didn__'__t you?__"_

"_Hey, I__'__m not a hobo!__"_the hedgehog replied in protest, folding his arms in annoyance, _"__I__'__m just a very poor guy that happened to get a bit too smashed, that__'__s all.__"_The four detectives stared at this strange individual in confusion for several seconds before said individual groaned, saying _"__It__'__s too crowded anyways. I__'__m off!__"_before walking off into the distance, somehow blending into the crowd of people leaving the station.

The four continued staring until Vector shook his head and looked back at Espio as he said _"__ And no, I didn__'__t drink some guy__'__s pee; and anyways, what the hell took you so long?! I was waiting about thirty-five minutes for you lot!__"_At that moment, a voice over the intercom blasted out _**"**__**Train 303 for the Mystic Cliffs is set to depart in 2 minutes.**__**"**___Espio pointed towards the ceiling and replied _"__That would be the reason; why would we bother waiting half an hour in sheer boredom for something when we could get a snack and kill some time?__"_

Espio then walked off towards the platform for Train 303, quickly followed by Mighty and Charmy, leaving Vector to stare in their direction, completely and utterly stumped at his stupidity being pointed out. He rolled his eyes and groaned yet again before catching up with the three as they got into the train.

It was a particularly busy train, filled with tons of people either sitting down or standing up and holding onto one of the many handles dangling from the ceiling. Luckily, our heroes were able to find a clear space to sit down, or stand up in the case of Espio as he grabbed onto one of the handles. Mighty propped down on the seat closest to Espio, while Vector and Charmy made their way through the crowd and found two free seats next to Mighty.

The intercom voice from earlier spoke up again _**"**__**Train 303 will now be departing for the Mystic Cliffs. Have a nice trip.**__**"**___as the train slowly started moving. It kept getting faster and faster until it left the station and sped off on a huge bridge, providing quite a lovely view of the town and the ocean beyond. Several buildings passed by, some quicker than others, for about a minute or two with the gorgeous sea still in view.

Mighty, Charmy and Vector turned their heads around and Mighty's jaw dropped with joy upon seeing this; he can't remember going on a train in this town before and he was surprised at the sight just outside his window. Espio was also watching the view, or to be more accurate was just staring at it as he began contemplating as usual.

Then, suddenly, he remembered something as he dug his hand into one of his skin leg pockets and dug out a small wrapped up roll. _"__Hey, Vector. Catch.__"_he said as he threw the roll backwards, with Vector just barely catching the roll in time. He observed it for a moment and upon realizing what it was, looked at Espio and simply said _"__Thanks, Esp.__"_with a smile of contentment on his face.

Espio didn't move or react in any way at all as the train soon went into an enormous dark tunnel, leaving everything around the four detectives including themselves to be covered in darkness. Not being able to appreciate the view anymore, Mighty turned back around and looked over in Vector's direction, asking _"__Hey Vector, can I ask you something?__"_

The sounds of a very hungry crocodile eating food droned on for a few seconds as Vector replied _"__If it__'__s about where I hid my __'__stash__'__, I told you that I don__'__t got no __'__st-__"_which was interrupted by Mighty saying _"__No, it__'__s not that__…__it__'__s about Espio.__"_Vector kept on eating his roll, asking _"__What about Espio?__"_Mighty sighed softly and rubbed the back of his neck as he said _"__Well__…__what__'__s with him? I mean, whenever I ask about something he says that sounds really cryptic, he just ignores me. Why? Is__…__is he okay?__"_

Vector stopped eating and looked over to Mighty with a look of genuine concern on his face, though no-one could tell since it was in pitch-black, before he finally said _"__I__'__m honestly not sure myself, sometimes. Guy__'__s always kept to himself like that; he__'__s not mad at you or anythin__'__; he__'__s just like that.__"_He didn't seem to get any kind of reaction from Mighty so he wrapped his arm around the young armadillo in a brotherly manner, saying _"__Don__'__t take it too hard on yaself, Mighty. He__'__s just not the kind of guy to open up to anyone__…__just don__'__t worry too much __'__bout him, __'__kay?__"_

Mighty sighed once more as he said _"__I__'__ll try__…__thanks anyway, Vector.__"_Vector cheerfully chuckled and replied _"__No problem, kiddo. Just one question?__"_Mighty leaned back slightly, asking _"__And that would be?__"_

"…_Why are you bollock-naked?__"_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 23/Mar/2013_

_(After an absence of nearly two weeks, I'm finally back and ready to give you more crazy Chaotix cases; oh how I love alliteration.__J__ And don't worry, there won't be as much Esighty shipping as the last two episodes, for those of you who didn't like that sort of thing._

_Anyways, not very much happens in this chapter aside from a few small character moments that I hope make the story more rewarding for you guys to read. Don't worry, things'll start picking up next chapter and hopefully, you'll enjoy them._

_As usual, tell me what you think of this chapter and if I can make any improvements to my writing style or anything else. Until we meet for next time, have a great day y'all! -FrDougal9000_

_NOTE: Due to pacing issues, i.e. nothing actually happened until the fourth part of this five-chapter episode, this whole thing is being recut to improve things and compensate for the constant delays caused by the author's sheer laziness. I apologize for the inconvenience and I hope you enjoy the brand new recut.)_


	19. 04 Self-Promotion - 2 of 5 (RECUT)

_July 7__th__, 2:40pm_

_Blazing Speedways, Mystic Cliffs_

After several minutes, the train finally reached the end of the tunnel and for an instantaneous moment, everything was covered in a blinding flash of light as the train exited the tunnel and the darkness within it. Mighty looked out the window and saw an environment very different from the one he'd left fifteen minutes prior.

While the massive blue ocean was still in plain view, it was overlooked not by a bustling town or city but large cliffs standing triumphantly against the crashing waves below. The cliffs were covered in a lot foliage and a few small huts were scattered about with a surprisingly small number of people walking about. Even the train station itself was far less impressive than before as it was merely a wooden hut that looked more like a bus stop than a train station.

As the train finally slowed down to a halt, the doors opened as the voice of the train captain bellowed out over the intercom _**"And we're here at Mystic Cliffs; if you wish to continued over to our next stop Twilight Town, then please stay inside the train. For those of you about to get off, I hope you enjoyed a ride from Blazing Speedways." **_Espio let go of the handle and walked out the door, quickly followed by Mighty, Charmy and Vector, the latter crunching up a food wrapper into a ball and throwing over into a nearby bin.

A few seconds passed as the train doors closed up and the powerful locomotive took off one more for its next destination. Mighty watched the train quickly go off into a tunnel on a mountain opposite the train station and noticed something rather odd looking beyond the bridge the train just crossed over.

It was a rather large looking hill with a staircase climbing up to two different buildings, one after the other. The first building was a rather large looking flat building that looked like a hangar that had been installed rather recently and the second building on a smaller hill just above that was an orange house with a lot of bizarre contraptions attached to it. Even weirder was that there was a long stretch of land that extended out to the edge of the cliff that looked an awful lot like a runway.

Mighty scratched his forehead as he stared at this odd but interesting sight in curiosity when Vector jumped in, saying _"So see you found where we're goin' already, I see." _Mighty turned his head to look at Vector and asked _"What do you mean…what're we doing here anyways?" _to which Vector replied as he walked over to the staircase _"Well, we need help setting up that website and the guy who lives in that there house is smarter than anyone. He'll be able to help us out!"_

Espio, Mighty and Charmy quickly began following Vector down the staircase as Espio asked _"Am I the only one who finds it a little sad that you're asking him of all people to help set up a website? Couldn't you have asked for help from…say, an employee in an internet café?" _to which Vector replied _"No, they'd probably pay for it; the kid'll do it for free. I know it." _Mighty tilted his head in confusion and asked _"And how so? And who is 'the kid', anyways?"_

Vector looked back at Mighty as they reached the bottom of the wooden staircase and said _"One: that's for me and him to know. Two: You'll see in a minute." _Espio shook his head as he butted in _"You gave him one of your 'special' skinmags, didn't you? He may be about…16, I think, but isn't that a little bit gro-" _when Vector suddenly turned around on the spot with an embarrassed and irritated look on his face, replying _"Fa the last time; I DON'T GOT NO STASH! Now drop it!"_

Espio rolled his eyes, scoffing derisively, as he and his team-mates made their way over to the hill and up the stone steps to the first building. Vector walked over to a small silver door and knocked on it with an air of smugness planted in his knocks. Shortly after, a rather young sounding voice shouted out _"It's open!" _Vector opened the door and let himself, Mighty, Espio and Charmy inside.

Mighty marvelled at what was inside the building; it was a single massive room filled with all sorts of advanced looking tech, particularly in the aircraft department. There seemed to be at least twenty planes, with about ten of them having the same blue and yellow colour scheme. They all looked like they were built for a variety of situations from space travel to dogfights and even one looked like it was used walking around on the ground. Strangely, all of these planes, regardless of colour or design had one thing in common; they had an emblem of two orangey-yellow fox tails.

Mighty walked around the planes, astounded at all this, when his antler-ears pricked up at the sound of rock music being played through a radio and an adolescent voice trying to sing _"Can't hold on much longer; I will never let go!" _Mighty walked closer to the sound and found a red bi-plane, surrounded by a ton of tools lying on the floor and many sparks coming out from underneath.

The voice from before continued singing _"I know it's a one way track; tell me now how long this'll last!" _as Mighty bent down to look under the plane. He knocked on the hull and asked _"Hello, anyone home?" _Suddenly, that same voice shouted _"Hey, don't do that; I've been here for the last hour trying to fix that hull!" _Mighty stood up, startled as all hell from what just happened, and shortly after, a flat board rolled out from under the plane with a young fox on it.

The fox was of an orangey-yellow colour and like Mighty and the rest of the Chaotix, he was also completely naked save for a pair of gloves, red and white shoes and a pair of goggles strapped to his rather large forehead, currently covering his also large eyes. He had about three short bangs dangling from his forehead and was covered in a litany of oil stains but most curiously of all, he had not one, but two large tails.

The fox rose up from the flat board and stretched backwards slightly to fix his back as he said _"Sorry 'bout yelling at you just there; I'm a little protective of my work." _Mighty's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, as they tend to do in this silly fanfic, asking _"Wait a minute. All of this," _looking around at all the technology around him, _"is yours?" _

The fox giggled as he scratched his forehead and said _"That's right! I'm guessing you're pretty new 'round here since I've never seen you before," _as he observed Mighty, who blocked his crotch area when he became aware again that he was naked, _"by the way, my name's Miles Prower, but you can call me 'Tails'."_

Vector came round the side of one of the planes and upon spotting Tails, he said _"Tails! There ya are; we've been looking all over for ya!" _as he walked over to the young fox and butt-naked armadillo, quickly followed by Espio and Charmy. Tails took the goggles away from his eyes and onto his forehead while he said _"So what do you guys need help with? Need a water cannon to douse yet another burning house?"_

"_For once, nope!" _Vector proudly replied as he confidently folded his arms, _"It's a technical thing we need your help with." _A big grin appeared on Tails' fluffy muzzle as he said _"Well, let's get to work then! Follow me." _just before he walked over to a small desk near the bi-plane that was covered in a ton of blueprints and design sheets.

Tails sat down on a comfortable but squeaky chair and brushed all the sheets out of the way, as he covered his eyes with his goggles once more, ready to do battle with whatever technological issue the Chaotix had! Vector opened up the laptop and set it down on the desk. Tails looked at the relatively plain website page shown in front of him as Vector said _"We need you to help set up this website for us!"_

About two seconds passed in stunned silence before Tails leaned back on his chair and took off his goggles, saying _"Wait a minute; exactly what's going on and what am I supposed to do?" _to which Vector replied as he leaned on the desk _"You see, I thought it'd be a great idea to advertise our detective agency so I set up a website for people ta check us out! Problem is…" _while he began scratching his head nervously, _"I don't know how ta code these things so I figured you'd be the best guy ta go ta."_

Tails rubbed his bangs for a few seconds until he finally said _"Lemme see if I've got this right; you're too lazy to go to a computer class or figure things out for yourself so you've come to me, expecting me to do all the work for you. Is that right?" _as he looked at Vector with a mildly annoyed look on his face.

As if he thought nothing of what Tails had just said, Vector gave a triumphant thumbs-up and an enthusiastic smile as he replied _"You got it, kid!" _Almost instantly, Tails fell backwards onto the floor with his feet dangling in the air. Espio buried his face in his palm, mumbling something along the lines of _"I figured this would happen."_

Tails got back up from the floor and shook his head from the disorientation of both falling backwards and the sheer stupidity of what Vector was planning before he looked at the crocodile and said _"And why should I do this?" _to which Vector leaned over to one of the fox's huge ears and whispered something that while it couldn't be fully deciphered, included something to do with naked ladies and a box of Kleenex tissues.

After Vector finally finished, Tails sighed in defeat and rolled his eyes casually, saying _"Alright, you win. But I'll only get you started with the basics; everything else is up to yourself and anyone else who wants to get involved. And by the way, buy some mouthwash sometime." _as he waved his hand around his ear to get rid of the awful stench clogging it up.

_July 7__th__, 2:50pm_

_Tails__'__ Hangar, Mystic Cliffs_

In a corner of a massive hangar covered in darkness, there lay a desk with a laptop on it, inside of which was an internet browser on a newly set up website based on the Chaotix, and to the left of the laptop were a desk light that illuminated the desk and an opened mini-fridge containing a litany of sodas. In front of the desk sitting in a variety of chairs, were the Chaotix and, facing the laptop, Tails, his fingers at the ready to type at a million miles per hour if he has to.

He observed the website's main page, which only contained the Chaotix logo and a white space filled with red words. Vector tapped on the fox's shoulder and asked _"__So__…__what do da red words mean?__"_to which Tails turned his head, replying _"__They__'__re simply pages that haven__'__t been edited yet; when they__'__re taken care of, they__'__ll be blue. Which one do you want me to tackle first?__"_

Vector leaned on Tails' shoulder with one hand as he used the other to point at a part of the screen that said in red words _Detective Dossiers_ as he said _"__That one. That tells customers __'__bout each of us; like personalities, likes, dislikes, hobbies, phone numbers, etc.__"_A few seconds passed in silence before everyone else stared at Vector in confusion, as Tails asked _"…__phone numbers?__"_

"_That__'__s right!__"_Vector said, proudly folding his arms in a fashion that he thought looked badass, _"__Y__'__know, in case anyone wants to go ou- I mean, discuss their case with one of us individually.__"_Tails rolled his eyes as he turned his head to look at the laptop, muttering _"__Of course__…"_He dragged the cursor over to _Detective Dossiers _and clicked on it.

The image changed to another near blank page; at the top was a bold title and short description that said _"__**Detective Dossiers: **__Where you check out the members of the Chaotix!__"_and below that were the names of each member written out in red. Tails clicked on the first name, which said _Vector the Crocodile, _which then went into a separate blank page, with _**Vector the Crocodile **_written on the top in bold.

Tails looked back at Vector, asking _"__Now what?__"_to which the crocodile replied _"__You just write down stuff like overview, personality, hobbies, likes, dislikes, phone numbers etc.__"_Espio quickly cut in, saying _"__Don__'__t type in the phone number. We may get trolled...again; and besides, who__'__d call it anyways?__"_with a cheeky smirk on his face. While Vector proceeded to look at Espio in a very pissed off manner, Tails cracked his fingers and got to work.

He began typing at near supersonic speeds, making sure that his spelling and grammar was correct, and kept going at it in a manner that, were this a steam punk film, would've had epic techno/orchestral music playing in the background. After about five minutes, Tails clicked on the Save button just below and leaned back as he sighed in relief, saying _"__Well, I__'__ve done the overview and personality so far; what do you think?__"_

The four detectives leaned forward to observe what Tails had written down for Vector and almost instantly, an irritated look started to appear on the crocodile's face. As he read through more of his overview and personality sections, Vector became more and more angered, so much that a snarl began appearing out of that massive snout of his.

Espio was the first to finish reading and so, he leaned back on his stiff wooden chair and folded his arms as he replied _"__Pretty much spot on, I__'__ll have to say.__"_and shortly after, Charmy sat back down on his tiny plastic stool and nodded in agreement. Tails smiled nervously, saying _"__Thanks. How __'__bout you, Vector? Your thoughts?__"_to which he received the livid reply of _"__Spot on?! Are you f*%&ing kidding me?!__"_Mighty leaned back slightly in response, holding his hands up defensively, and asked _"__What__'__s wrong with it?__"_

Vector angrily pointed at the screen and replied in a loud, very annoyed voice _"__It__'__s a bucketful of lies, that__'__s what__'__s wrong with it! I mean, look at this:__"_as he began reading out what Tails had written down, _"__'__May not have been around when da brains were being handed out!__'__, __'__Egotistical__'__, __'__Tends to flirt with women more than actually doing work!__'__, __'__Hot-headed__'__ and worst of all, __'__Keep him away from all flammable objects and surfaces!__'"_

Vector turned to look at Tails with steam practically coming out of his ears and nostrils, saying _"__How the hell can you make a website for searching for da truth and then fill it with lies, lies and even more bloody lies?__"_Tails leaned towards the screen to look over it one more time and while reading, says _"__How can I be lying; I__'__m only writing what I know.__"_

Vector grunted and leaned even closer towards the screen as he said _"__Well, obviously, you don__'__t know very much; move over, I__'__ll take care of this myself!__"_pushing Tails out of the way and taking control of the laptop by erasing everything Tails wrote and typing in all new content.

As Vector began typing out all sorts of superlatives to describe himself, Tails scratched his head in sheer bamboozlement, saying to no one in particular _"__Unbelievable; you try to be honest about someone and they push you off the chair in return.__"_Espio leaned slightly forward and replied with a tinge of sarcasm _"__Well, this is the __'__Great Vector__'__ we__'__re talking about here.__"_

Mighty turned his head away from the laptop and towards Espio and Tails as he said _"__I suppose__…__but it made more sense than what he__'__s typing at the moment.__"_Tails tried to look over Vector's shoulder to see what he was typing out while asking Mighty _"__How so?__"_The armadillo raised an eyebrow and replied _"__Well, it__'__s been a long time since I went to English classes but I__'__m sure that the word __'__the__'__ isn__'__t spelt d-a; not to mention that he keeps mentioning that he__'__s a sexy sex machine__…__his words, not mine.__"_

When Tails was finally able to get a clear view of what Vector was writing, he stared at it for about a minute with the strangest look on his face before Vector finally finished typing and hit the Save button. Leaning back and putting his arms behind his head, Vector asked with a confident smirk on his face _"__Well, guys; here__'__s the new and improved version. What d__'__ya think?__"_

Tails repeatedly scratched his bangs as he replied _"__I don__'__t know what to think; I__'__m not sure how but I have an easier time trying to understand binary than whatever the hell you__'__ve just typed out.__"_Curious as to what Vector had just said, Espio looked at the computer and after a couple of seconds _"__You seriously need to have paragraph breaks; it__'__s just a big wall of text. Aside from that, that__'__s an even bigger wall of lies that you accused Tails of writing.__"_

Shortly after, Mighty added _"__Plus, I__'__m not sure how it__'__ll help if customers know the length of your__…"_as he nervously looked at young Charmy very briefly before continuing _"…__willy.__"_Charmy took a quick peek at the wall of nonsensical text before he said _"__I__'__m sure your spelling is actually worse than mine; and I__'__ve never even gone to school.__"_

Vector rolled his eyes in annoyance and groaned, saying _"__Everyone__'__s a critic nowadays.__"_righted before Tails went right up to his face and replied _"__Says the guy who accused what I wrote of being lies and then proceeded to type out his own version.__"_Vector simply mumbled _"__Whatevs__…"_and sunk down into his chairin response.

Tails buried his annoyed head into his palm for a few seconds before he took a deep a breath and went back to the laptop's keyboard as he said _"__Fine; do what you think is best,__"_with a fair bit of bitter sarcasm, _"__Well, we__'__ve got personality and overview done; what__'__s next?__"_

"_Oh!__"_Vector suddenly exclaimed as he sat up straight from the chair, _"__I just remembered somethin__'__! We put up pictures for each guy!__"_Thought startled from Vector coming out like that, Tails replied _"__Alright, then. Do you have any pictures of your team with you?__"_to which Vector gleefully replied _"__Nope!__"_

Tails looked at the laptop as he asked _"__Are there any pictures on the laptop?__"_Vector scratched his head and smiled nervously, replying _"__Well, sorta. Not of any of us though.__"_Espio chuckled softly as he quietly said _"__Probably __'__cause you__'__ve filled the hard drive with nothing but hardcore po-__"_when Vector suddenly shouted _"__Not in front of da kid!__"_as he pointed at Charmy.

"_Anyways,__"_Vector continued as if nothing at all had just happened, _"__I know a great way to get pictures of us; da interwebs!__"_Tails and Espio stared at Vector as if a third eye had just appeared from his snout for several seconds before Tails cautiously asked _"__Are you sure that__'__s a good idea?__"_

"_Course!__"_Vector enthusiastically said as he folded his arms, _"__We__'__re pretty famous so I__'__m sure there__'__ll be good enough pictures of us on da interwebs!__"_Tails and Espio looked at each other nervously and back at Vector before Tails sighed, saying _"__Well, if you say so.__"_And with that, he opened up a new tab on the internet browser and typed in _Vector the Crocodile _onto the search bar.

When the links for anything related to the crocodile popped up, Tails was about to click on the images section when Vector's obnoxious voice once again yelled to the world _"__Hold up a second there! You typed in the wrong words!__"_Tails rolled his eyes and cheekily asked with a smartass smirk on his face _"__So you__'__re really an alligator, then?__"_

Vector's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he replied _"__**NO. I**__**'**__**M. NOT! **__Anyways, if you wanna get the best quality images, you should type in da best description!__"_Tails looked at Vector in a very confused manner, saying _"__Which is__…__?__"_Vector leaned over the keyboard and said _"__Oh, forget it; let me take care of this!__"_as he typed in _Vector the Sexy Crocodile!_

Tails' and Espio's eyes widened as they said in unison _"__Vector, don__'__t!__"_but to no avail, as Vector quickly clicked on the images section after typing the above entry in. Mighty looked at Espio's and Tails' worried faces and asked _"__Seriously, why are you two freaking out? It can__'__t be that bad, can it?__"_

Espio stared at Mighty as if he was looking at a complete dumbass for a few seconds before he asked _"__Mighty__…__have you every used the internet?__"_Mighty tilted his head in curiosity as he replied _"__Well, no. But honestly,__"_before turning his head to look at the image results that Vector got, _"__I don__'__t see what that has to wi- OHMYGODWHATTHEHELLISTHISIDON__'__TEVEN!__"_

I'll spare the gory details for the faint of heart but what basically happened is that by adding in the word 'Sexy' to his name, Vector had accidentally stumbled upon an embarrassingly enormous treasure trove of pornographic fan-art for all to see; pornographic fan-art that now displaying on the laptop and forcing Mighty to cover his eyes with his hands and repeatedly mumble to himself _"__I mustn__'__t run away! I mustn__'__t run away! I mustn__'__t run away!__"_

While it may have been detrimental to his sanity, Espio leaned forward slightly and looked at the images displaying on the screen as he asked _"__How the hell is there so much of__…__whatever the hell this is?__"_to which Vector replied _"__Well obviously, I must be quite da sex god around these parts.__"_Tails tilted his head as he tried to observe the fan-art, saying_"__I wouldn__'__t be so sure on that; most of them seem to be made by the same five people, at least as far as the image links say.__"_

"_Awwww!__"_Vector groaned in disappointment, _"__I thought I__'__d be really popular on the interwebs.__"_Espio chuckled somewhat as he replied _"__You are popular on the interwebs; to five people and their right hands, anyways.__"_Vector looked at Espio with a really irritated look on his face when a genius idea popped into his head. He erased his first entry and typed in _Espio the Sexy Chameleon_, slamming his finger on the enter button in an overdramatic fashion.

The images near instantly changed from disturbingly erotic fan-art of Vector to disturbingly erotic fan-art of Espio, making the chameleon's eyes pop out in embarrassment as he lunged for the laptop and attempted to get rid of the horrifying images, shouting _"__What the hell, Vector? It was just a joke!__"_However, Vector held Espio back as he replied _"__And so is this!__"_with a very cheeky grin on his face.

Meanwhile, Tails and Charmy were observing the fan-art in curiosity, scrolling down the page, when suddenly, the two of them started giggling like madmen. Vector and Espio stopped arguing to look at the two rolling around on the floor, laughing their asses off, as Vector raised an eyebrow and asked _"__What__'__s so funny?__"_Tails pointed towards the laptop screen, replying in between howls of laughter and pants _"__There__'__s__…__fan-art__…__of you__…__and Espio__…__havin s-__"_before breaking down in laughter once more.

Espio and Vector looked at the laptop to where Tails had scrolled down and upon seeing the results, both their jaws practically fell right through the floor as they witnessed utterly terrifying erotic pictures drawn by apparently very lonely yaoi fan girls and fan boys. They stared at the screen, utterly terrified of what they were looking at, when Mighty finally put his hands down from his eyes and looked over the two as he asked _"__So is the creepy art gone yet?__"_

For several seconds, neither the crocodile nor the chameleon bothered to answer, leaving Mighty to raise an imaginary eyebrow in confusion before his eyes wandered towards the fan-art displaying on the laptop. Normally, he would've blocked his eyes with his hands again but a curious part of him decided to keep looking in an attempt to comprehend what was in front of him.

After about a minute or so, he bit his lip, trying his hardest not to laugh when Vector slowly asked _"__Is that me__…__wearing a__…__mankini?__"_and shortly after, Espio asked _"__And is that my hand touching your__…__?__"_A moment or two passed before Vector and Espio fainted, falling backwards onto the floor, causing Tails and Charmy to laugh even harder and Mighty to start laughing as well.

_July 7__th__, 3:10pm_

_Blazing Speedways, Mystic Cliffs_

"_**Train 195 for Emerald Coast City will be arriving at the station in a few minutes.**__**"**___At a small wooden bench opposite the one set of train tracks at the small station, Charmy was hovering around in the air while Vector and Espio's fainted bodies were lying down on the bench. Nearby, Tails was talking with Mighty about what had just happened.

"_Ya know,__"_Tails said as he nervously played with one of his giant namesakes, _"__When I got up this morning, I wasn__'__t expecting to be looking up__…'__that__'__.__"_Mighty leaned on the wall and chuckled as he replied _"__I don__'__t anyone was, to be fair. Doesn__'__t mean that was a bad thing, though.__"_Tails looked over at the unconscious bodies of Espio and Vector, replying _"__They__'__d probably think it was a bad thing.__"_with a slightly cheeky smile on his fluffy muzzle.

"_We__'__ve had worse,__"_Mighty replied as he folded his arms behind his head, _"__Last week, Espio kissed me in his sleep.__"_After a few seconds, Tails looked at Mighty with a stunned, confused expression on his face as he asked _"__Hold on__…__what?__"_Mighty non-chalantly shrugged, saying _"__Just look up Chapter 17, alright? __…__Oh, by the way, my name__'__s Mighty.__"_

"_That__'__s right; I never bothered to ask your name,__"_Tails said, putting his hands into his Mobian leg pockets, _"__So__…__what__'__s your story, Mighty?__"_to which Mighty cheerfully replied _"__Not much to say; I woke up one day and figured __'__I__'__d like to check out the rest of Mobius!__'"_as he began scratching the back of his head _"__So for the last seven years, I__'__ve gone all over the planet; seeing new places and making__…__some friends, anyways.__"_

With a look of curiosity on his face, Tails asked _"__It__'__s been about__…__six months, I think, since I last went anywhere; how__'__s the planet been?__"_Mighty looked at Tails as he replied _"__Pretty much the same as usual__…__hasn__'__t been the same as it used to be, though.__"_Tails sighed wearily, saying _"__Yeah__…__hasn__'__t been the same since that colony incident.__"_Mighty raised an eyebrow and asked, leaning forward, _"__What colony incident?__"_

At that moment, a train came out from the mountain next to Tails' house and stopped next to the station as the intercom announced _**"**__**Train 195 has now arrived at Mystic Cliffs; will be departing for Emerald Coast City very shortly.**__**"**___The doors opened up and Charmy flew into the train as Mighty looked at Tails with a confused but curious look on his face for a few seconds before the fox replied _"__I__'__ll tell you about it some other time.__"_

And with that, Mighty walked over to the bench and picked up the unconscious bodies of Vector and Espio, hoisting them over his back, before he walked into the train. Tails walked up to the train door, asking _"__Hey Mighty! I just remembered something; Sonic says __'__Hi!__'__ from Holoska!__"_Mighty turned around and began smiling again upon hearing the greeting from his old friend, saying _"__Thanks for tellin__'__ me that, Tails!__"_

Tails folded his arms as he asked _"__How do ya know Sonic by the way?__"_to which Mighty replied, chuckling softly, _"__I__'__ll tell you about it some other time.__"_Tails cheerfully rolled his eyes and said _"__Very funny.__"_Shortly after, the doors closed and the train took off for Emerald Coast as the intercom stated once more _**"**__**Train 195 will now be departing for Emerald Coast City. Have a nice trip.**__**"**_

Tails ran alongside the train and waved goodbye as the platform came to a close, as Mighty turned and waved back shortly before the train went into the tunnel once more. He lowered his arm and put down Espio and Vector's bodies on a nearby chair before grabbing onto one of the handles dangling from the ceiling, waiting to get home and tell the two fainted detectives the news.

And maybe blackmail them with those internet pics, while he's at it, as a devilish smirk appeared on his face.

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 28/Mar/2013_

_(Hello and welcome to my latest chapter, where my favourite Sonic character, Tails, finally shows up! As I've made clear earlier on, Tails is 16 in this fanfic so don't be too grossed out by anything squicky, 'kay?_

_Anyways, I hope I__'__ve done alright; this is my first time writing Tails and I hope I did him well enough, especially since he__'__s my favourite Sonic character and everything. And don__'__t worry, things are only going to get crazier for the rest of the episode from here on out so hold on tight everyone!_

_And as before, tell me what your thoughts are on this chapter, on the fanfic in general and if I can make any improvements to my writing style. Don't worry, things'll really start to pick up next chapter, with a few odd occurrences on the way!_

_Until we meet again for my next chapter, have a great day y'all! -FrDougal9000_

_NOTE: Due to pacing issues, i.e. nothing actually happened until the fourth part of this five-chapter episode, this whole thing is being recut to improve things and compensate for the constant delays caused by the author__'__s sheer laziness. I apologize for the inconvenience and I hope you enjoy the brand new recut!)_


	20. 04 Self-Promotion - 3 of 5 (RECUT)

_July 7__th__, 4pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

As the sun slowly but surely began to descend into the mountains behind the hilled city, the smooth jazz playing in the Sparkling Emerald became slower and more sombre to fit the mood the evening sun would bring in a few hours. The building and everything in it took on a slightly orangey-yellow tint as the door slammed open, alarming customers for the twenty-seventh time that week to the presence of the Chaotix.

Well…technically; a still naked Mighty walked into the building with Vector and Espio slouched over his back, followed by a hovering Charmy as the two were arguing once more. Mighty walked over to one of the tables as he looked at Charmy and asked _"Can I please put my clothes back on now?!"_

Charmy folded his arms and shook his head as he replied _"Nope! Rules are rules, Mighty; you gotta stay naked for the rest of the day!" _Mighty flung Espio and Vector onto one the couch-like seats at the empty table he was standing next to, saying _"Why? People have been staring at me and giving me funny looks all day and it's really bugging me!"_

Charmy stroked his chin, smiling cheekily, and asked _"Would it bug ya if someone you like was staring at you?" _Mighty scratched the back of his head as he nervously replied _"…Maybe; I dunno. Why?" _to which Charmy started giggling as he pointed over Mighty's shoulder. Mighty turned around to find Honey staring at him and the both of them immediately began blushing as he buried his face in his hand, muttering _"Not again."_

"_S-sorry," _Honey stammered as she walked towards the two, _"b-but it's hard not to look at some guy's butt when it's right in front of you." _Mighty raised an eyebrow as he looked at her and asked _"How does that make sense? You see my butt every week; what's the difference?" _Honey looked up and down Mighty as she replied _"Well, if I decided to come in naked next time you guys showed up, you'd probably be staring at me all day."_

Mighty began blushing at the thought and in response, he folded his arms and looked away, stuttering _"N-n-n-no I wouldn't!" _Honey rolled her eyes sarcastically when Charmy hovered over and asked _"Could we have some water?" _She tilted her head as she asked _"Sure but what for?" _to which Charmy thumbed toward his K. comrades, replying _"To wake them up."_

"_Hold on a sec." _Honey said before she walked over to the counter and poured out a pint of water. She walked back over to the table and gave Charmy the water as he said _"Thanks." _before promptly pouring it over Vector and Espio, who woke up with a heck of a fright. Vector looked around to get some kind of grip on his surroundings as he stammered _"W-what the heck's g-goin' on? W-w-where are we?"_

Mighty looked at the two reptilian detectives, saying _"You fainted back at Tails' place so we took you back here." _Honey tilted her head in confusion and asked _"Exactly what happened that made you two faint?" _to which Charmy eagerly replied _"We tried getting pictures of us for our website so we checked the internet. And what happened was we found pictures of Vector riding Espio's baloney pony!"_

"_Baloney what?" _Honey asked as she began chuckling. Espio and Vector looked at Charmy with very livid expressions on their faces as Espio said _"Why the hell did you have to tell her that?" _Charmy held up his index finger and replied _"Because you guys are always going on about how we have to expose da truth or somethin' like that and what happened was the truth."_

Vector and Espio leaned towards Charmy, shouting _"NOT WHEN IT'S SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"_ so powerfully that it blew the young bee about an inch or two away. Vector groaned in annoyance before he looked at Mighty and asked_ "So what happened after me and Esp fainted?"_

Mighty proceeded to sit down on the seats opposite the two as he replied _"Well, we stopped there. Knowing you, we couldn't write anything else unless it was glowing praise but again, that wouldn't be telling the truth." _as a devilish grin appeared on his muzzle. Vector rolled his eyes, muttering _"Crap…well, what do we do now?"_

Espio leaned back into the chair, putting his feet up on the table, and suggested _"We could try and do some publicity stunts; that'll get people to go to our website." _Vector stroked his chin as he pondered this, saying _"That might actually be a great idea…but what'll we do?" _to which Mighty replied _"Maybe we could do a TV commercial." _shortly before Charmy said _"Ooh, ooh, and posters! Lots and lots of posters!"_

Honey leaned on the table and chipped in _"Maybe you guys can do something special here, like a Q&A or something like that. I could talk to my dad about helping out, if it'll help." _Vector slammed his hand into the palm of his other hand as he said _"Yeah! This could actually work; we just need to get out stuff together and we can prove that we're not useless to more than ten people!"_

Espio took his legs off the table and got up from his seat, saying _"Then let's get to work, shall we?" _to which Vector cheerfully replied _"All right! Charmy and me'll take care of gettin' the stuff for da commercial; you and Mighty try get da posters set up and Honey," _as he pointed at her, _"Can ya talk with your dad 'bout helpin' us out?" _Honey smiled as she put her hands on her hips and said _"I'll give it my best shot."_

"_Good ta know," _Vector exclaimed, giving Honey a proud thumbs-up as he got up from his seat, _"Chaotix Crew, you know what to do; move out!" _He and Charmy rushed out the door and ran down one street, quickly followed by Mighty and Espio who went down another street while Honey went behind the counter to find her dad.

_July 7__th__, 4:25pm_

_Mercia Library, Emerald Coast_

"_So exactly what__'__re we here for?__"_Mighty asked with his arms behind his head as he and Espio walked into the massive library. Espio replied as he pushed the door open _"__We can use some editing software to make the poster and then print off as many copies as we need.__"_

The door opened to reveal an enormous room filled with what looked like thousands of bookcases and people walking about getting books, sitting at desks studying or trying to hit on the local sexy librarian. _(This is actually a thing, strangely enough.) _An orange light came into the expansive library through massive glass windows, giving the whole place a very serene kind of quality.

In a small corner of the room were some very fancy looking desks with state-of-the-art computers on top of them and nearby, printing and photocopying machines were at the ready to do as their namesakes implied. As the two walked over to the desk, Mighty tilted his head and asked _"__How come we can__'__t make a poster on the laptop?__"_

Espio folded his arms as he sternly replied _"__One: I__'__m not risking getting sticky fingers from that keyboard. Two: We__'__d still need to come here to print the posters. And three: I don__'__t have the laptop with me. Speaking of which,__"_as he stopped and looked at Mighty, _"__where is the laptop?__"_

Mighty stopped in his tracks and stood there for a couple of seconds as he racked his brain to remember where it went. When he realized, he scratched his head sheepishly, mumbling _"__Oh no__…"_before he turned around, smiling nervously as he replied _"__I left it back at Tails__'__ place.__"_

Espio stared at Mighty with an expression that looked irritated yet completely bored at the same time for a moment before he groaned and began walking again, muttering something along the lines of _"__Baka__…"_Getting over to one of the desks, he pulled up a chair and turned on the computer screen as Mighty walked over and sat on the chair next to Espio's.

Mighty folded his arms as he leaned back on the chair, asking _"__How come you only printed off just one poster last time you did this?__"_to which Espio replied as he clicked on one of the program icons _"__You have to pay in order to print in libraries and since we were still broke, that was all we could afford.__"_Mighty grunted affirmatively and watched Espio get to work on the program as it opened up.

About a minute or two passed before Mighty looked at the computer screen and saw a very sketchy version of the poster he'd seen before; a series of black footprints along a concrete floor being spied on by a giant magnifying glass, with the words _"__Are you sure you want to know? - Chaotix Detective Agency__"_underneath and a picture of the detectives to the left.

The difference was it looked like it had been made very quickly, with a lot of footnotes hidden around the place and the detectives had very exaggerated proportions, particularly Vector having an enormous head on a teeny-tiny body. Mighty leaned back somewhat in bewilderment when Espio glared at him as he asked _"__What is it?__"_

Mighty simply pointed at the screen and said _"__That. What the hell are you doing?__"_Espio disdainfully rolled his eyes, replying _"__I__'__m planning the idea out first and then I__'__ll start working on it for real. Haven__'__t you ever done that when drawing before?__"_to which Mighty non-chalantly shook his head.

Espio rubbed his forehead in annoyance for a few seconds as he said _"__Fine; in that case, I need you to do something for me.__"_Mighty hunched forward on his chair slightly in response while Espio continued _"__I want you to find where they keep old newspaper articles and bring back anything related to a company called Verrat. Can you do that?__"_

Mighty raised an eyebrow in confusion, asking _"__What for?__"_Espio didn't reply as he went back to working on the poster, leading Mighty to angrily groan as he got up from the chair and walked over to the newspaper section of the library, where he searched vigorously for at least ten minutes. It was a lot harder than he'd figure it would be to find articles on some random company he'd never heard of…actually, that might've been why he couldn't find it.

Oddly enough, the name _Verrat_ sounded familiar but a company with that name drew a complete blank in his mind. As he was about to leave, he noticed something in the corner of his eye; a small newspaper that had fallen onto the ground, probably during his search.

The black armadillo leaned down and picked up the newspaper, intending to put it back into the shelves of flattened newspapers when something on the front page caught his glance. It was a picture of a large robot helping people lift crates and a large headline that stated _**"**__**New technology released by Verrat Enterprises to help people!**__**"**_

Mighty didn't bother to read through the article but noticed a small portrait picture in the middle of the text; the picture portrayed a purple chameleon, much like Espio, except he had a smaller horn protruding from his forehead and he was wearing a pair of sunglasses. Below the picture was a small piece of text that said _**"**__**Belwork Trayal; CEO of Verrat.**__**"**_

The resemblance was…uncanny, in a strange way. Deciding not to pay any mind to it for now, Mighty shrugged as he walked back to the desk, where Espio was still working on the poster, which looked as if it was nearly complete. Mighty placed the newspaper on a small space next to the computer as he said _"__Sorry it took me so long but I could only find one article. Hope it helps.__"_

Espio stopped his work and held up the newspaper to inspect the article for a few seconds before he went back to the task at hand. Mighty put an arm on the desk, using his fingers to tap it rhythmically for a few seconds, asking _"__You mind me asking exactly what you needed that newspaper for?__"_to which the chameleon very bluntly replied _"__It__'__s none of your business.__"_

_(Time for some mood music - Evangelion 1.0 - Cruel Dilemme III)_

The hand Mighty had been using to tap the desk clenched up into a fist as he angrily asked _"__Can I ask something else then?__"_In response, Espio looked at Mighty and calmly replied _"__Shoot.__"_Mighty took a deep breath before he asked _"__Why are you such an ass, partner?!__"_

Espio leaned back slightly and looked at the angered armadillo with a somewhat expression on his face, asking _"__What do you mean?__"_to which Mighty replied _"__You know damn well what I mean; whenever I try to talk you, you always act like I shouldn__'__t be here!__"_as his fists began throbbing in rage,_"__You make everything you say sound so cryptic and sometimes you don__'__t even respond to whatever I say!__"_

Espio rolled his eyes in disdain and asked _"__Name one time where I didn__'__t reply to you.__"_which Mighty very quickly answered with _"__This morning when I asked you how you knew the time the train would leave; you acted like I wasn__'__t even there! Why?!__"_

An irritated frown formed on Espio's face as he leaned forward and asked _"__Why are you so concerned about me? I heard you talking about me to Vector this morning and I__'__d like to know what your deal is with me.__"_Mighty's eyes clenched in frustration as he replied _"'__Cause I want to help you out! That__'__s why, partner!__"_

Espio's frown turned into a snarl that replied _"__For the last time, stop calling me partner! Furthermore, why should you even bother trying to help me? I__'__m no good__…"_Mighty gasped in shock before he yelled _"__DON__'__T EVER SAY THAT __'__BOUT YOURSELF!__"_as he lifted his hand off his desk and slapped Espio clean in the face.

Mighty breathed heavily through his teeth in anger when he saw Espio feel his own slapped cheek, where a red mark had been left behind. Mighty's eyes widened out as he leaned forward and said _"__I__'__m sorry __'__bout that! I didn__'__t mean for that to happen!__"_Espio continued rubbing his cheek with a look of complete disbelief plastered on his face, saying _"__Sure felt like you meant it__…"_

Though part of the dumbfounded expression Espio had was from the fact that Mighty had just given him a proper bitch-slap, most of it was from how Mighty went from sheer rage to an apologetic state in less than twenty seconds. Espio briefly reflected this as he told Mighty _"__You really have some anger issues, you know that right?__"_

Mighty sighed wearily and lowered his head down to look at the floor in shame, saying _"__I do__…__it__'__s just that I hate people talking crap about themselves, especially when they__'__re not that bad.__"_Espio felt the mark from his cheek fade away and so, he lowered his hand back down to the desk as Mighty also muttered _"__And especially since they aren__'__t me__…"_though Espio was unable to hear that last bit.

He stared at Mighty with a look of uncertainty and regret for several seconds, not knowing what to do, when a female voice from nearby cleared her throat. Espio looked to his left and found a librarian with a very annoyed look on her face who whispered _"__Do you two want to be kicked out? Please keep the noise down!__"_

Espio nodded in response and the librarian walked away, quickly followed by a group of horny teenagers. He looked back at Mighty, with his head still directed at the floor. The chameleon lifted his hand from the desk and hovered it over Mighty's head indecisively for a few seconds before he simply took it back onto the desk.

Still unsure of what to do, Espio closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he sighed heavily and softly said _"__Sorry.__"_Mighty lifted his head and looked at Espio in confusion, asking _"__What?__"_Espio turned his head to focus on the computer again as he replied _"__I__'__m sorry__…__for what I did to you. Can you__…__forgive me, for now at least?__"_

A bittersweet smile appeared on Mighty's face as he replied _"__Don__'__t worry, partner. I can.__"_putting a hand on Espio's shoulder and rubbing it gently. Espio looked at Mighty and replied _"__Arigato.__"_as his stern expression formed into a very subtle smile on his muzzle.

Mighty tilted his head in bamboozlement, saying _"__Aree__…__gato?__"_Espio rolled his eyes and shook his head as he said _"__It means __'__thank you__'…__you do realize there are about thirty girls staring at you, right?.__"_Turning his head to the left of Espio, Mighty noticed about that aforementioned number of fan girls staring at his naked body and immediately covered it in response, blushing like a very annoyed echidna.

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 4/April/2013_

_(Good lord, these recuts must be getting pretty annoying, aren't they? Well, as long as it makes the story more enjoyable for you guys in the long run, that's all that matters to me. _

_I'm aware that this chapter is a lot shorter than the first two but that's mainly 'cause we're getting closer to where I was writing before I had to delay the hell outta everything so don't worry. There'll be new content from here on out, I can promise that much!_

_And as usual, tell me your thoughts on this chapter; should I make any improvements on my writing style and more importantly in this case, have you any tips to stop procrastinating? It would really help._

_I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and until we meet again, have a great day y'all! -FrDougal9000)_


	21. 04 Self-Promotion - 4 of 5

_July 9__th__, 7:15pm_

_MJQ Jazz Bar, Emerald Coast_

For the next-week and a half, the Chaotix would try a grand variety of attempts to get promotion for their website. However, for the sake of the author not wanting to bore the readers to death _(not to mention he could only come up with about three or so ideas)_, it was decided to only show off a few of these attempts.

Inside a brick laden room with a curtain hanging on one side, Espio asked _"Exactly what are we supposed to do?" _to which Vector proudly replied _"We're gonna promote our website by doin' a theme song in front a those guys out there!" _as he pointed towards the curtain.

Mighty, once more fully clothed, shell and all, burst into the room carrying a large set of drums, followed by Charmy who simply carried the drumsticks, while Espio said _"Wait a minute; we have a theme song?" _In response, Vector cheerfully nodded, saying _"Yep!" _as Mighty put the drums down at the brick wall facing the curtain.

He turned to the two reptilian detectives and asked _"Do we even know what the lyrics are?" _to which Vector folded his arms and replied _"I got 'em written down on my arm 'ere," _as he pointed towards his left arm, which was covered in several lines of scribbles, _"and besides, you three'll be takin' care a da background music!"_

Charmy placed the drumsticks onto one of the flat drums as he asked _"But who does what?" _Vector pointed at Charmy, saying _"Easy! You'll take care a da drums!" _then pointing towards Espio, _"You'll do da bass!" _as he handed the chameleon a slightly damaged looking bass guitar.

Espio observed the guitar as he asked _"Isn't this the same guitar to use to attack people who sneak into our place?" _but Vector simply continued with his speech as he pointed at Mighty and said _"And finally, you'll play da tambourine!" _throwing over a small disk with even smaller metal plates hanging off from the side to the armadillo.

Mighty whacked the tambourine with one hand and heard it make a slight jingle before he said to no one in particular _"This may not go well." _Meanwhile, Vector grabbed a microphone next to the curtain and yelled into it _**"And now, for y'all watching, get ready for the greatest buncha detectives in Mobius to play their brand new theme song!"**_

Murmurings from what seemed like a crowd of people erupted from the other side of the curtain as Vector looked towards his comrades and asked _"Ya ready guys?" _to which he received a unanimous response of _"God no…" _from Mighty, Charmy and Espio as they took their positions on the stage. Vector chuckled, saying _"That sounds like a yes to me!" _before he turned towards the curtain, which slowly rose up to reveal a crowd of about twenty bored looking customers.

Vector gave the crowd a thumbs-up as he spoke into the microphone once more _**"Thank y'all for comin'! We hope y'all enjoy our new theme song and if ya want more info, check out our website at .com! And for the ladies the audience, I'll be signin' autographs after this." **_as he gave the women in a crowd a suggestive look, while Espio whacked his face with his palm for about the hundredth time that day.

Vector then epicly pointed at Charmy, shouting _"Lead us in, Charmy!" _Charmy, sitting at the drums, picked up the drumsticks and clacked them together, saying with each clack _"ONE…TWO…THREE…FOUR!" _And with that, the four detectives began playing their theme song.

Maybe it was the fact that Vector hadn't bothered to tell any of his team-mates how the song went, leading them to play what felt like four different songs at once; maybe it was the fact that Mighty, Espio and Charmy had absolutely no idea how to properly play their instruments

Maybe it was the fact that Vector's singing was so bad that it was more incomprehensible than say, Scooby Doo wearing a Nicky Minaj wig and singing in a rock band _(this is genuinely a thing that happened at one point) _but for whatever the reason, for four and a half minutes, the audience was subjected to an incredible amount of constant, irritating, loud noise that threatened to rip their ears right off their heads.

Cymbals crashed, screwed up chords were strung, tambourines were slapped and grating crocodile vocals echoed across the jazz bar in a series of painful melodies that didn't seem to mesh with each other at all. To the relief of the audience, the song finally finished and Vector took a great bow, believing that he was getting the applause of at least ten thousand people.

After a few seconds, he rose up and asked _**"Well, what did y'all think of that?" **_And as if to respond to that question, a crazy pink-haired Overlander wearing a biker's helmet and a red vest jumped onto the stage and took the bass guitar from Espio before proceeding to whack Vector in the head with such a force that he crashed through the brick wall behind him.

As the crazy lady shouted something about using bass guitars properly and giant robots coming from people's foreheads before running off the stage, the audience, Mighty and Charmy stared at what had just happened in complete and utter bamboozlement while Espio scratched his head and he asked _"…Was that…Haruko?"_

_July 17__th__, 3:25pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

_(More mood music! One Life - The Pillows)_

At this point in the fanfic, the regular customers of the Sparkling Emerald had become so used to the Chaotix bursting into the café with something that would advance the plot that it had actually become a game in some groups to make bets as to when the detectives would enter the café.

Because of this, whenever the four went through the door, as with this case, they'd often hear some guy yelling in the background _"Damn it! Missed it by just a second!" _or some kind of argument as to who was closer in time that would eventually escalate into a fight of some sort.

And while the latter happened for about the sixth time that week, the four, looking particularly battered and bruised today, went over to the counter and sat down. After a few seconds, a familiar large yellow cat appeared from behind them and said _"Mornin', pal!" _with a cheerful grin on his face.

Espio, whose horn had a bandage around it as if someone had torn it off and then tried to glue it back together, turned to the cat and said _"Kyle, it's half 3pm; it's hardly morning at this point." _to which he replied _"Well whatever. Anyways, what the heck happened to you guys?" _as he walked behind the counter, placing his one crutch on a nearby wall.

Mighty, who had a ton of bandages on his arms and a damaged looking nose, replied _"Well, we've been putting up posters advertisin' us for the last week or so and this morning, we tried putting them up 'round the local high school." _Kyle put his arms on the counter and leaned forward, asking _"So what happened?"_

Mighty's muzzle blushed a very faint red as he replied _"We accidentally went into the girls' locker room…and got beat up." _scratching his head and smiling very nervously. Kyle simply replied _"Yikes; you look like they tried to murder you, especially Vector here." _as he pointed toward a massive bandage wrapped around the crocodile's forehead.

"_Actually," _Espio said as he rubbed his own forehead with his hand, _"That was something else completely." _Kyle put his hands on his hips, tilting his head, as he asked _"How so?" _to which Charmy, whose helmet was smashed beyond repair, said _"Some crazy chick with pink hair whacked him with a bass guitar last week and something started growing outta his forehead."_

Kyle looked at Vector with a confused look on his face before Vector replied with an air of exasperation _"I don't get it either; she yammered on 'bout something called Medical Mechanica and things sproutin' from dudes' foreheads and junk like that." _After a moment or two of silence, Espio leaned over to Kyle and said _"Don't even ask; it was probably just a stupid crossover the author did to get more shout outs on the TV Tropes page of this fanfic…if it ever gets one, that is."_

Kyle just looked at the detectives, mouth slightly agape, in stunned silence for a couple of seconds before he shook his head and asked _"So…how's promoting yourselves goin', pal?" _to which Mighty groaned and bluntly replied _"Not very well. We've tried everything; playing a theme song, putting up posters everywhere, prostitution but none of it's actually done anything aside from go horribly wrong."_

"_Hold up," _Kyle said as he leaned towards Mighty, _"how 'bout when I leant the place out a few days ago for that Q&A of yours?" _Espio shook his head in response, replying _"That didn't work; there were like two or three people attending the thing and even then, they kept asking questions about Mobian male anatomy."_

Kyle raised an eyebrow in sheer bewilderment before Mighty quickly added _"They were writing a Chaotix yaoi lemon fic and they wanted to get the anatomy facts straight." _Almost immediately, Espio face palmed himself as he groaned in annoyance, muttering _"Damn puns…" _

Mighty looked at Espio, utterly confused, briefly when Vector rose up from his slump and announced _"I just remembered! We made a commercial last week and thanks to my brilliance, we got it on to air around this time! Kyle, turn on da TV!" _as he over-dramatically pointed towards the screen.

Kyle reached for a remote hiding under the counter and aimed at the TV as he clicked a button on the remote, turning the TV on. The TV was showing images of a programme that had something to do with giant mechs being piloted by whiny 14 year olds that then went on an ad break. The first ad that appeared looked really low budget and began with a familiar shrill of a Brooklyn accent that yelled _**"Has dis ever happened to ya?"**_

It then cut to what looked like Espio wearing tons of terrible makeup standing next to a scribble of a busted safe and saying in the most possible dead-pan manner that even Gendo Ikari couldn't match _"Oh no, all my money's been stolen? What will I do?"_ About two seconds later, Vector jumped out of the blue, wearing a large green trench coat, and announced _"Don't worry ma'am, the Chaotix'll take care of your problem!"_

Yet another jump cut occurred as Vector stood in the middle of a street holding Charmy, dressed up in a typical burglar costume holding bags with a dollar sign on them up, in the air as the young bee cried in a dastardly voice _"Drat, drat and double drat! I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling detectives!"_

This was followed by one last jump cut to the four detectives standing in front of the five dollar camera trying to look cool and not doing a very good job at that as Vector declared _"And we don't just take care of burglars; we also handle messy divorces, missin' Chao, fan service, fightin' criminals, collectin' info and much more! Sunshine or snow, the Chaotix'll come to your aid!"_

And in a slightly choreographed manner, the four pointed towards the camera like spiky-haired lawyers and said in unison _"We're ready to help you!" _with the number of the agency and the website address written at the bottom of the screen. About five seconds passed when Vector broke from his not-epic pose and asked _"So we're done?"_

Espio whacked his forehead with his palm and said _"Anta baka? Vector, the camera's still running!" _The crocodile's eyes widened out and his jaw dropped as he ran for the camera, declaring _"Oh crap! Don't worry, we'll get it in editi-" _before the footage was cut off by static, which switched over to the next commercial after a few seconds.

Kyle stared at the TV for several moments, scratching his head in confusion as he said _"Well…that was…ummm…ap-" _when Vector interrupted with _"Amazin'? I know, but what else would ya expect from da Great Vector?" _as he closed his eyes and folded his arms confidently.

Espio leaned back on his chair as he replied _"For it not to look at if it was made on the budget of pocket lint?" _quickly followed by Charmy buzzing over to Vector as he added _"That we'd actually fix things in editing?" _Vector opened his eyes and irritably groaned, saying _"It was a rhetorical question, ya mooks…"_

He then looked at Mighty and smiled as he continued _"Still, at least Mighty knows the ad's greatness, right old pal?" _as he gave the armadillo a big pat on the back. Mighty looked at Vector and began chuckling as he shook his head and replied _"God no!" _

Almost immediately, Vector fell of the chair and Charmy burst out laughing as usual, while Kyle stroked his chin and pondered _"Ya know, that line you guys said in that ad sounded pretty familiar…ya know, that 'Sunshine or Snow' thing." _Vector grabbed the edge of the counter and rose back up, saying _"Well that's 'cause it's been our tagline fa years so of course you've heard it before!"_

"_I'm not so sure, pal," _Kyle said as he closed his eyes, deep in thought, _"I think I've heard that line somewhere else before…but where?"_

Just then, the TV switched over to yet another ad that began with thousands of flashing images of taxi cabs as an almost Orwellian narration said _"Go to Crazy Taxi; follow Crazy Taxi; support Crazy Taxi; embrace Crazy Taxi." _This was then succeeded by footage of five men in spandex performing expertly choreographed dancing moves.

The Chaotix would've ignored this, especially since most taxi ads were usually that bloody weird, if it wasn't for the rap/musical number that played over the dancing, the first few lyrics of which were as follows:

_Whatever you do…_

_Wherever you go…_

_Sunshine or snow, we will run the show…_

That last line in particular had the effect of making Vector slam his hands on the counter as he stood up, leaning towards the TV and shouting at the top of his voice _"THE F&%K?!" _Espio rolled his eyes and condescendingly asked _"What is it now, Diva-sama?" _

"_Those taxi-ing bastards stole our catchphrase, that's what!" _Vector lividly replied as he slammed his fist on the counter. Espio simply shrugged and argued _"How could they steal something we never trademarked in the first place?" _Vector's already angry mouth formed into a very pissed looking snarl as he replied _"But I've been usin' that 'Sunshine or snow' phrase since we started up 7 years ago!"_

He then pointed at the spandex advertisers doing their best Space Channel 5 impersonation, continuing _"Those jackasses completely ripped us off! We gotta do somethin' 'bout this!"_ Mighty played with one of his antler-ears as he said _"How? We don't even know where the company is."_

Shortly after, the ad finally concluded by showing a five-second screen cap that had the Crazy Taxi logo, with small text underneath that stated _"Crazy Taxi Racers, call 085-24072002 or visit Glitter Oasis Square (it's the big taxi shaped building in case you can't see it.)"_

Vector's snarl turned into an extremely cocky smile as he slammed his fist into his hand and said _"Well, how 'bout now? C'mon guys, we're goin' over to that Crazy Taxi HQ and we're gonna get 'em back for stealing our catch-phrase!" _before he took off from his seat out the door.

About five seconds passed when Vector walked back in, saying to no-one in particular _"And in case any of you are thinkin' a leavin' me behind again…" _When he reached the counter, he grabbed Charmy and kept the bee in an arm lock, grabbed Mighty by his antler-ears and put a firm grip on Espio's horn_(…on his head, you perverts!) _before dragging the three of them out the door.

_July 17__th__, 4:46pm_

_Crazy Taxi HQ, Glitter Oasis Square_

As the name may very well imply, the interior of the taxi-shaped Crazy Taxi HQ was very unlike what you'd expect to see in a taxi corporation…well, unless you assume said taxi corporation is the hot-blooded hybrid of OutRun, taxis and even a little bit of Gurren Lagann that runs of silliness and rainbow farts or something equally demented.

The reception area, for example, looks as if it was designed by the 90's Kid; all the employees were wearing very out-of-date clothes and either watching old merchandise driven cartoons or playing gruesome, gore-filled but not very good arcade games in the corner, the room was covered in nothing but surfboards, taxi paraphernalia and anything else people having a mid-life crisis liked to show off and the only music that played in the lobby was The Offspring and Bad Religion…on repeat…FOREVER.

However, this peaceful atmosphere, if you could even call it such a thing, was broken when Vector burst through the see-through neon door, still dragging Mighty, Espio and Charmy behind him, and walked over to the surfboard-shaped reception desk. He let go of his comrades and slammed his hands on the desk, yelling _"WHERE DA HELL'S DA BOSS A THIS PLACE?!" _

A very familiar looking green hedgehog walked up to the other side of the desk, rubbing his head thoroughly as he replied _"Could ya keep it quiet; I've havin' the worst hangover in the world right…now…" _as he recognized the crocodile standing in front of him.

"_Oh, it's you," _the hedgehog continued as he yawned briefly, _"you're the guy who drank my piss back at the train station." _Vector's eyes widened out as he suddenly remembered that embarrassing incident and in response, leaned back slightly and shouted _"And you're the hobo that pissed into that bottle!"_

The hedgehog cringed from Vector's obnoxiously loud voice, saying _"Dude, can't you be a little quieter?" _to which Espio cheekily remarked _"I've been asking him that for seven years; unless you offer him a copy of PlayReptile, he's not gonna listen." _before Vector suddenly slapped the chameleon on the back of the head very roughly.

Meanwhile, the hedgehog leaned onto the desk and continued _"Anyways, like I said before, I'm not a hobo; I'm Manic, the receptionist dude/guy/whatever 'round here. What d'ya want?" _as he looked at the four detectives with an extremely bored look on his face. Vector slammed his fist on the desk as he answered _"We wanna see your boss; we've got business with 'im…"_

Manic looked at Vector for about five seconds before he shrugged and replied _"Yeah, what the hell." _as he walked around the desk and walked over to the Tron-like elevator to the left of it. Espio took a double-take look in Manic's direction with widened out eyes and a dropped jaw, saying _"That's it? No security guards, booby traps…or even just a plain old 'no'?"_

No-one bothered to answer Espio's question as the other three detectives passed by him to get into the elevator, leaving the chameleon to bury his face in his palm and angrily groan as he followed them over. Once they all got in, Manic pressed the giant red button that said _"Chief Boss's Place!" _and with that, the elevator went straight up to the top of the building.

When the doors opened, the detectives and the hedgehog got a clear view to a massive room, filled to the brim with old arcade games, a giant collection of bass guitars and all sorts of bizarre things lying about the floor; and at the end facing the elevator was a convertible taxi that also acted as a desk because…reasons.

Sitting in the taxi was a green haired Overlander who wore an opened short sleeve shirt and black shorts while a shark-tooth necklace dangled from his necklace as if he was trying to cosplay as a certain banjo playing bear from a game more entertaining than this fanfic.

The Overlander was currently chatting to someone on his cell-phone, apparently having some kind of debate since the first thing our heroes heard was the Overlander saying _"Look, I'm tellin' ya, there's something goin' on between that duck and the rabbit."_

The Overlander paused, listening to the other side of the conversation for a second as he put his feet up on the taxi dashboard before he continued _"You're still not seeing it? They're two grown men who've been livin' in the same house since that reboot a couple of years back, remember? The shitty sitcom one?"_

Manic walked up to the taxi, making sure not to step on the Overlander's collection of Metallica records scattered all over the floor, quickly followed by the Chaotix, who simply looked on with confused looks. The Overlander rolled his eyes as some kind of mumbling was heard from his phone before he sighed and asked _"What d'ya mean this episode's jumped the shark?"_

At that moment, he noticed the five Mobians standing in front of him and quickly said _"I'll have to call you back; buncha guys just showed up." _before hanging up. Vector slammed his hands on the taxi's hood and leaned towards the Overlander as he angrily asked _"A 'buncha guys', eh?! Who do you think you're messin' with?!"_

The Overlander tilted his head in bamboozlement, asking _"What?" _to which Vector replied with a massive snarl on his face _"You stole our tagline! That stupid break-dancing ad of yours completely ripped off our 'Sunshine or snow' motto!" _The lack of any kind of response from the Overlander led Espio to tap Vector's shoulder and say _"Vector, did you consider that he might not know who we are?"_

"_What're on about now, Esp?" _Vector asked as he leaned back and folded his arms, _"We're the Chaotix Crew, everyone should know who we are." _Mighty pointed to the green haired man stretching his arms in boredom as he commented _"Well apparently, he doesn't."_

The Overlander said _"Wait a minute," _as he got up from his seat and stood on the hood of the taxi for no other reason because it looked cool, _"the Chaotix? Where have I heard that before?" _Vector's snarl became a very confident smirk as he replied _"Maybe 'cause we're da guys that stopped a rampagin' rhino from wreckin' da town? Or 'cause we're da guys that gave da police info on da Babylon Rogues gang?"_

The Overlander stroked his chin in thought for a moment when he snapped his fingers and said _"Now I remember; you're that guy who stole those womens' panties at the swimming pool last month!" _as he pointed at the feet of Vector that were currently dangling in the air.

"_Anyways," _the Overlander asked as he jumped onto the ground and looked down at the fallen crocodile, _"What do ya want from me?" _Vector quickly got back up from his feet and replied _"Like I said, you completely ripped off our catchphrase in your stupid brainwashin' bullcrap!" _to which the Overlander cheekily asked _"And…?"_

Vector opened his great big stinking jaw to yell once more but only silence passed through it for a few seconds before he slumped and said _"I forgot what I was gonna do." _which was very quickly followed by Espio, Mighty and Charmy falling onto the floor in sheer bamboozlement.

"…_Oh wait, now I remember!" _Vector said as he rose up and proceeded to punch the Overlander square in the face. The Overlander staggered back slightly from the punch before he leaned forward, the rather bored look on his face forming into a stern expression that threatened to destroy Vector's mind given the angry stare he was giving to the crocodile.

_(One last piece of mood music - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney OST - Suspense)_

"_Okay," _the Overlander said as his hands clenched up into fists of restrained rage, _"I'm going to pretend you didn't just do that and you can just leave before you get yourself into deep shit, got it?" _Vector snorted in derision as he replied _"Yeah right, Mr Bigshot; you can't drive out da Chaotix 'till you give us some kinda payback for stealin' our phrase!" _

Espio, getting back up from the ground, simply face palmed as he mumbled _"We're doomed." _while Mr Bigshot walked over to Manic and whispered something into the hedgehog's ear before he ran off over to the elevator and took it back downstairs. Mr Bigshot then sat on the hood of his taxi-desk and said _"Well, you've done it now; I've had Manic get the security guards. They'll be here in a few minutes to escort you out of the premises…or worse, if you decide to dig yourself deeper."_

"_No way!" _Vector stubbornly replied as he pointed at Mr Bigshot, _"I'm not leavin' 'till I get somethin' back from ya!" _Mr Bigshot simply chuckled, saying _"And you will; a broken arm or two, maybe more if you wanna keep goin'. I'll say this one more time: get out and drop this matter before you get yourself in trouble."_

The elevator came back up and Manic walked out of it, shortly followed by two large employees; one was a brown-haired male Overlander wearing glasses and wielding a crowbar while the other was a brunette clad in red skin-tight clothing putting on a martial arts pose. Mr Bigshot tilted his head and remarked to no-one in particular _"Oh. Gordon, Blaze, there you are. Ya mind takin' care of these guys for me?"_

The crowbar-wielding man simply nodded in response and slowly walked over towards Vector, hoisting the crowbar up into the air, as Mr Bigshot commented _"Well, you got what you wanted; a little payback for your so-called 'theft'. And by the way, the name's Axel, not Mr Bigshot as the narrator implies." _a devilish grin appearing on his face.

The man lifted his crowbar into the air, preparing to strike the now covering Vector, when Manic suddenly rushed over to Axel and said _"Wait a minute Ax! When I was downstairs, I found out that these were the guys that got us that big chunk of Mobucks three weeks ago!"_

Axel raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he asked _"Is that so?" _Vector looked over to Axel and weakly nodded. Axel scratched his chin for a second when the man lowered his crowbar to whack Vector on the head. _"Gordon!" _Axel shouted and almost instantly, the crowbar stopped just before making contact with the crocodile's skull.

"_Hold on a minute," _Axel continued as he got off the hood and knelt down to look at Vector, _"I can't just go 'round killing off some of my best customers! But how are we gonna sort this mess out? I can't just let you four considering the mess you've made." _Axel folded his arms and closed his eyes deep in thought while Vector got up and walked over to the other three detectives, mumbling _"The hell's with da sudden moodswing?"_

Espio rolled his eyes as he guessed _"Well, he is a businessman; they tend to flip-flop on their customers a lot…that, or the author of this fic really has no regard for character consistency. It could go either way, really." _Mighty scratched his nose and looked at the contemplating Axel as he said _"Still, maybe we should try figure something out that benefits us…but what?"_

An idea suddenly burst into Charmy's head as the young bee flew over to Axel, exclaiming _"Ooh, ooh, ooh, I've got an idea! We'll face you off in a game of poker; the winner gets the rights to that 'Sunshine or snow' thing and the loser has to do whatever the winner says!" _

Axel opened his eyes and because it seemed like he didn't have anything better to do, he simply shrugged and replied _"Yeah, what the hell. C'mon, we'll take care of this in the poker room." _indicating a door to the right of the elevator that led into an ominous black room as he, Manic and the two other Overlanders walked over to it.

Vector ran up to Charmy and asked _"What the heck, Charmy? We're all terrible at poker; even a ten-year-old could wipe da floor with u-" _which Charmy interrupted by confidently saying _"And that's why I'll take him on! You know that I'm pretty good at it so this should be pretty easy." _with a cheerful grin on his face.

Espio folded his arms and chuckled as he remarked _"Of course, defeat the enemy by playing a game that works to your advantage. Pretty clever, I'll have to admit." _Vector grinned and joyfully rubbed Charmy's head, saying _"Alright, Charmy! You've just saved our asses; this game's in the bag for us!" _

The four detectives walked into the poker room and the first thing they noticed was a golden plaque that stated _"Axel Thrust: Poker Hitmaker, 5 years standing!" _Upon noticing this, the Mobians' mouths dropped in complete surprise as Mighty mumbled _"It's not in the bag yet…not by a long shot…"_

**To be concluded…**

_Message from the Author - 18/April/2013_

_(About bloody time I uploaded a new one of these; sorry for the delay on this one but I guess I was just really lazy, not to mention I was trying to figure where the hell the plot was going to go._

_And to be honest, I'm not a big fan of this chapter; there seems to be too many pop culture references for its own good and I may have written myself into a corner at least two or three times in this chapter alone._

_In anything positive can be said, the next chapter will hopefully be much better and make this episode a lot more rewarding in the end._

_As usual, tell me what you thought of this chapter and if I can improve on my writing in any way possible. Until we meet again for the conclusion, have a great day y'all! -FrDougal9000)_


	22. 04 Self-Promotion - 5 of 5

_July 17__th__, 4:56pm_

_The Poker Room, Crazy Taxi HQ_

Inside a door next to the elevator of the building lay a room in near complete darkness, only illuminated by a single light bulb hovering over a massive green table littered with poker chips and playing cards. On one side of the table were Axel Thrust, the Overlander owner of the Crazy Taxi company, Manic, a green hedgehog who's definitely not a drunk hobo, and two security guards named Gordon and Blaze, who are in no way a shout-out to either Half-Life or Streets of Rage.

On the other side were our daring detectives Vector, Charmy, Espio and Mighty, who had just gotten involved in a poker game to try get payback for a stolen catchphrase. This would've been less difficult than you'd think if it weren't for the fact that 1: there was a giant golden plaque on the wall opposite the door that stated _"__Axel Thrust: Poker Hitmaker, 5 years standing!__"_and 2: the writer had no idea how to play poker and just decided to wing it, fully aware that Critical Research Failure would probably occur.

Axel pointed downwards, indicating the eight chairs surrounding the table, shortly before he and his lot sat down, quickly followed by the Chaotix. Axel brought his hands together and leaned forward on the table as he asked _"Now that we're here, how's about we get down to business?" _The only response he got was Vector silently but very nervously gulping.

"_So here's the idea," _Axel continued while he took out a large deck of cards and place it out in the middle, _"We're gonna do a 4v4; we each have a separate hand and if more than one person deals, the lowest one gets kicked out. Whichever side loses all members first is the loser. Simple?"_

_(Mood music - Solitary Cell 13 - Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)_

Not waiting for any kind of response, he continued _"Glad to hear, let's get started!" _as he dealt cards out to everyone at the table until they had a hand of five cards each. Axel turned on a nearby radio to play some fittingly mysterious, yet foreboding music, as himself and the players gathered their hands and held them up to their faces.

Not even five seconds had passed when Vector slammed his hand down on the table with a big grin on his face as he proudly announced _"Hell yeah! Check it out y'all; four of a kind!" _The seven other players stared at the cocky croc, completely confounded, before they looked at the hand he'd placed on the table.

"_Uhh…Vector," _Espio said as he pointed towards the hand, _"There isn't any four of a kind at all." _Charmy scratched his head, saying _"Actually, there isn't any pair in there at all." _Vector's eyes widened out slightly as he replied _"What d'ya mean? Look!" _as he pointed at his hand.

"_There's four nines in there; that's four of a kind!" _Vector continued before he folded his arms in satisfaction. _"Vector…" _Charmy said with a look of disbelief and embarrassment, _"You've only got one nine; the other three are an eight, a seven and a six…you've just got garbage."_

"_Hold up a sec…" _Vector replied, his eyes widening out a little further than before as he leaned forward to check the cards properly. Seconds passed in silent anticipation before the crocodile slumped back on his chair as he admitted _"Ah crap!" _Espio looked at the cards once more, asking to no-one in particular _"How's it even possible to screw something like that up?"_

"_I MISCOUNTED, 'KAY?!" _Vector yelled as he folded his arms and put on a sour face. Charmy tilted his head in confusion and said _"But Vec, there's numbers on the side of the cards…" _though Vector continued to pout, leading Axel to say _"Well, now that we've lost the diva," _as he clasped his hands in a very badass manner, _"how's about we really get started?"_

Since the seven remaining players hadn't time to check their cards, they figured just to keep going as if nothing happened. What felt like hours passed in unbearable silence as all except two of them wondered whether or not their hand was any good, fearing that they may very well get screwed if they dealt their hand out. All except for Charmy and Axel, who simply waited to see how things would turn out before making their move.

Finally, Manic made the first move by putting a single poker chip forward and saying _"Yeah, I'll deal." _This was quickly followed by Gordon, who silently placed a chip in the middle of the table, and finally Charmy, deciding to put in TWO chips to raise the stakes. _(…wow, I'm taking this way too seriously!)_

Manic placed his hand down, revealing only a single pair of eights, followed by Gordon, who had another pair of tens, and Charmy then placed down his hand, showing off a final pair of nines. Charmy sighed in relief, knowing that he wasn't the lowest of that round.

"_Sorry Manic," _Axel said, putting on a sarcastically sympathetic smile, _"but you got the lowest hand; you're out." _Manic non-chalantly shrugged, saying _"Whatevs; I was gettin' pretty bored, anyways," _as he got up from the chair and walked out of the room, _"If anyone needs me, I'll be downstairs watchin' Thundercats!"_

After that, all of the cards were gathered together and shuffled for about a minute before being handed out to everyone once more. This time around, Blaze, Espio and Mighty dealt their hands, tossing a small number of chips out into the centre of the table.

Espio cautiously placed his hand down, revealing two pairs of fours and threes, Mighty showed his hand of a single pair of twos and finally, Blaze showed off a pretty impressive pair, as well as two eights. _"…Did you really just rip off Futurama?" _Axel asked with an air of irritation as he looked upwards.

**Aw, give me a break! I'm having enough trouble writing this chapter as it is…**

"_Blah, blah, blah,"_ Axel mockingly continued, _"Who cares? Just don't do it again. Anyways, you're out, armadillo." _This lead Mighty to slump into his chair as he said _"Damn it; I really have the worst luck in poker, don't I?" _quickly followed by Espio adding in _"Just be thankful we're not playing strip poker again."_

"_Hold up," _Axel asked, a cheeky smile appearing on his face, _"You guys play strip poker? Does that mean you two…happen to be…?" _as he gave Mighty and Espio a very curious look. When they got the message, the two detectives leaned forward and shouted at him with blood-red faces _**"NO, WE'RE NOT!" **_with such a force that he even fell backwards off his chair.

"_Jeez," _Axel irritably commented as he got back up from the ground, _"You ask people a perfectly fine question and they wanna rip your heart out for it." _This was quickly followed by Vector cheekily remarking _"Then again, when you have a denial as serious as that, there might be something there…" _as he devilishly chuckled.

He was then subsequently blasted out of the room by Mighty and Espio's unified shout of _**"SHUT UP, VECTOR!" **_The crocodile staggered back into the room a few seconds later, looking as if a giant robot had just punched him in the gonads, as he muttered _"And they're saying I'm the diva…" _

He pulled up a chair while Axel said _"Anyways, you've lost half your team, Chaotix…looks like this game's in the bag." _Vector folded his arms and smiled confidently, saying _"Don't be so sure, Mr Bigshot; you've still gotta got up against Espio and Charmy." _A vein appeared on Axel's forehead as he replied _"I told you; the name's Axel, not Mr Bigshot."_

For the sake of not boring the reader with tons of uninformed poker nonsense, here's a quick summary of what would happen for the next two rounds; Gordon was swiftly taken down in the fourth round by having complete garbage and took out his frustrations by silently attempting to attack Vector with his crowbar.

In the fifth round, Blaze lost her impressive pair, ending her time in the game with only two threes, beaten out by Espio's two pairs of fours and sixes. She promptly left the room to take her rage out onto the streets and whatever poor sods got in her way.

"_Alrighty then," _Axel said, chuckling like some kind of magnificent bastard, _"Now that we're down to three, everyone has to deal, no matter how bad their hand is. Got that?" _Espio and Charmy calmly nodded in response, doing their best to ignore Vector's pain-filled screams of _**"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS IDIOT OFF ME BEFORE HE KNOCKS ME O-" **_which was interrupted by a noise of a crowbar hitting Vector, followed shortly after by the sound of Vector's unconscious body slumping onto the floor.

"_Good! Let's get started!" _Axel exclaimed before shuffling the deck of cards once more and handing them out to Espio, Charmy and himself. After a few moments of anticipation and dread, Espio was the first to show off his hand, revealing a pair of twos.

Charmy carefully laid out his cards, showing a pair of threes, before sighing in relief while Axel showed that he had another pair of threes. Axel smirked in satisfaction and amusement as he said _"Sorry to say, purple guy, but you're out." _Espio rolled his eyes, saying _"Oh well, can't keep going forever. Good luck, Charmy." _as he gave the young bee a supportive pat on the back.

"_Ready to go, kid?" _Axel asked as he began shuffling the cards. Charmy closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened his eyes once more as he cheerfully replied _"Ready as a buzzing bee!"_ Axel chuckled softly before dealing the cards out to himself and Charmy. They gathered the cards together and held their hands up their faces.

_(Time for some finale music - Hedgehog's Dilemma - Neon Genesis Evangelion)_

This was the point where things got really tense; the music became much more serious, time seemed to slow to a complete halt and Charmy's hands were even beginning to tremble a little from the tension. Mighty and Espio leaned forward, preparing for whatever result may come from this final round.

The anticipation and dread of the whole situation was giving Charmy a very strong desire to go to the bathroom, though the young bee tried his absolute best not to show it by doing what Espio usually did and keep as calm as he possibly could. After what felt like an eternity, Axel finally lowered his hand to reveal a full house of two aces and three queens.

"_Well, well, well," _Axel said as he confidently folded his arms and laid back in his chair slightly, _"It looks like I've won this one. Now…what shall I have you lot d-" _when Charmy interrupted with _"Not so fast!" _quickly followed by the bee slamming his cards down on the table.

Axel looked at the cards and found a full house of two aces and three kings, after which he promptly collapsed onto the floor in complete shock. Charmy smiled gleefully and began laughing as he said _"Now who's won this one?" _even playfully sticking his tongue out at the unconscious Overlander.

_July 17__th__, 5:30pm_

_Glitter Oasis Square, Emerald Coast_

Just outside of the gigantic taxi-shaped HQ our heroes had been in for the last forty minutes, a couple of people were taking a knocked-out Axel into an ambulance via stretcher and nearby, Mighty, Espio and Charmy were standing around Vector, who had gotten a couple of bandages on his head.

"_Un-frickin'-believable," _the reptilian detective grumbled as he leaned on a wall next to the front entrance, _"I get maimed with a crowbar and I get a buncha plasters. While that moron," _giving a massively annoyed look towards the Overlander being loaded into the ambulance, _"just faints and gets shoved into hospital!"_

"_Look who's calling who a moron." _Espio cheekily replied as he sarcastically rolled his eyes before getting slapped on the back of the head yet again by Vector, who said _"Not in da mood, Esp!" _Espio rubbed the back of the head, mumbling _"Yare, yare…" _while Mighty looked at Charmy and commented _"It's still nuts that you just barely beat Axel; and with a full house of all things, too. How do ya do it?"_

Charmy hovered over to Mighty and replied _"Mighty, don't ya know that a detective never reveals his secrets?" _to which the armadillo bluntly said _"I think it's magicians who never spoil their skills…not detectives…" _Charmy folded his arms and shook his head, asking _"What's the difference?"_

Mighty groaned in annoyance before walking over to Vector, softly asking _"So you holdin' up okay, Vec?" _to which the crocodile shrugged as he non-chalantly replied _"As okay as a guy who's been whacked with a crowbar can be, I guess. How come?" _

"_Just wanted to make sure is all," _Mighty said as he leaned on the wall and began cheerfully smiling, _"so…what're we gonna make Axel do?" _Vector shook his head and chuckled slightly, replying _"Well, we can't really do anythin' since he's bein' carted off to da hospital." _pointing towards the ambulance that was now driving away from the building.

"_Maybe I can help with that," _Manic said, walking out of the building with his hands in his leg pockets, _"I'm the only other guy who knows 'bout this so tell me what you wanna do and I'll see how things go. A deal's a deal, after all." _Vector stroked his chin in thought for a few seconds before he pointed at Charmy, saying _"Since Charmy won da game for us, let him come up with the idea."_

"_Hmm…" _Charmy mumbled as he played with one of the antennae sticking out from his pilot's helmet for a few seconds, thinking about what he should do until he snapped his fingers and replied _"I've got it! I want you to replace that dancing ad with our one…and edit some things in it!"_

"…_That's it?" _Manic asked with a stumped expression plastered on his furry face, _"…Nothing else…at all?" _to which Charmy shook his head as he cheerfully replied _"Nope!" _Manic stood there for a few moments before he shrugged and said _"Alright then, I'll see what I can do." _After that, he walked back into the building, presumably to try sort things out.

"_Nice one Charmy!" _Vector gladly said as he cheerfully laughed and patted Charmy on the head, _"You got our catchphrase back and you're getting our ad spread out some more! Great job, kid!" _Charmy smiled and folded his arms as he said _"Thanks, Vec!"_

"_I'll admit I'm actually kind of surprised," _Espio stated as he looked over at Charmy, _"I figured you would've asked for a giant pile of ice cream or something like that." _Charmy raised an eyebrow as he asked _"Say what?" _to which Espio cheekily replied _"Well, they would've had to have done whatever the winner says so, technically, you've could've asked for something like that…"_

Charmy's left eye began twitching and his hands curled up into trembling fists for a few seconds until he flew straight up into the air and yelled at the top of his lungs _**"GOD F&%*ING DAMMIT!" **_Mighty stared up at this, quite bewildered, while Vector gave Espio an irritated look as he said _"You really like windin' people up don't ya?"_

"_Not really," _Espio non-chalantly replied, _"I just simply stated a fact is all." _as a devilish smirk appeared on his face and he began to softly chuckled, leaving Vector to roll his eyes sarcastically.

_(The last piece of mood music - A Moment When Tension Breaks - Shiro Sagisu)_

_July 19__th__, 8:59am_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

Throughout the ten or so years they'd been running the Sparkling Emerald, Kyle nor Honey never really had anyone standing at the front door of the café, waiting for someone to open up the place up, nor were they expecting people to anytime soon.

However, this morning, when they came walking up the street to the café, they found the Chaotix eagerly waiting at the door…well, Vector was eagerly waiting while Espio looked even more bored than usual and Charmy had fallen asleep on Mighty's back.

"_Mornin', pal!" _Kyle said towards the four detectives as he and Honey walked up to them, _"So what's the big occasion?" _to which Vector proudly replied _"Open da place up and we'll show ya!" _Kyle reached into his pants and took out a set of keys that he inserted into the door and turned it until he heard some kind of click.

He took the keys out and opened the door and as he, Espio and Vector walked in, Honey walked up to Mighty and asked _"How's it going, Chicky?" _Mighty opened his mouth to speak but a yawn came out instead, leading Honey to giggle as she replied _"That says it all."_

"_Pretty much," _Mighty sheepishly admitted as he tilted his head and tiredly chuckled. _"So, what's the big rush about getting in?" _Honey asked as she walked inside. Mighty quickly caught up with her as he replied _"Basically, we made an ad a couple of days ago to promote the agency and then, we ended up in a poker game with the boss of the Crazy Taxi company and after we beat them, we asked them to put our ad on more timeslots and fix it up a bit."_

Honey stopped in her tracks and she looked a Mighty with a confused look on her face, asking _"…Wait, what?" _Mighty rolled his eyes and replied _"I know, it doesn't make much sense. Blame the writer." _before he walked over to the counter, where Espio and Vector were already sitting down as Kyle turned the TV on.

Mighty picked up Charmy from his back and shook him slightly, softly telling him _"Hey Charmy, wake up. The ad's gonna be on in a minute." _Charmy's eyes opened up slightly as he tiredly yawned, mumbling _"Huh, what?" _Mighty simply pointed up to the TV as their new and improved ad was starting to air.

The low-budget ad began with a pan-over of a bunch of case files plastered on a wooden desk for no real reason while a familiar shrill of a Brooklyn accent that yelled _**"**__**Has dis ever happened to ya?**__**"**___

It then cut to what looked like Espio wearing tons of terrible makeup standing next to a scribble of a busted safe and saying in the most possible dead-pan manner that even Gendo Ikari couldn't match _"__Oh no, all my money__'__s been stolen? What will I do?__"_ About two seconds later, Vector jumped out of the blue, wearing a large green trench coat, and announced _"__Don__'__t worry ma__'__am, the Chaotix__'__ll take care of your problem!__"_

A giant explosion that appeared on the screen as the scene transitioned to Vector standing in the middle of a street holding Charmy, dressed up in a typical burglar costume holding bags with a dollar sign on them up, in the air as the young bee cried in a dastardly voice _"__Drat, drat and double drat! I would__'__ve gotten away with it if it weren__'__t for you meddling detectives!__"_

This was followed by yet another explosion to the four detectives standing in front of the five dollar camera trying to look cool and not doing a very good job at that as Vector declared _"__And we don__'__t just take care of burglars; we also handle messy divorces, missin__'__ Chao, fan service, fightin__'__ criminals, collectin__'__ info and much more! Sunshine or snow, the Chaotix__'__ll come to your aid!__"_

And in a slightly choreographed manner, the four pointed towards the camera like spiky-haired lawyers and said in unison _"__We__'__re ready to help you!__"_as heavy-metal began playing over the background while the number of the agency and the website address written at the bottom of the screen. About five seconds passed when Vector broke from his not-epic pose and asked _"__So we__'__re done?__" _when it suddenly cut over to the next ad.

"_Well, that was amazin', wasn't it?" _Vector confidently asked as he folded his arms, expecting the praise of a thousand people. Kyle scratched his head in sheer bewilderment as he replied _"It was the exact same ad as a couple of days ago…except with explosions and heavy-metal."_

"_Well, what d'ya expect?" _Vector asked as he leaned on the counter, _"Why bother to change somethin' that was already perfect to begin? All ya need ta do sometimes is just try improve on it." _Espio leaned on a hand as he tiredly said _"He basically means it's a polished turd."_

"_Shaddup!" _Vector yelled as he tried to whack Espio on the back of the head. However, the slightly genre-savvy chameleon ducked and Vector accidentally fell off his chair as a result. _"If you wanna complain to anyone," _Mighty suggested, _"talk to the editor of the ad…when he wakes up anyways." _pointing towards the once-again sleeping bee on his back.

"_Well," _Honey said as she walked to the other side of the counter and leaned on it, _"It could've been worse. It was entertaining…in a Tommy Wiseau way, anyways." _Vector put a hand on the counter and used it to lift himself up as he replied _"Well, don't worry; this is just da beginning! When more people see that ad, da cases'll come rollin' in and we'll get some more money to knock around with!"_

"_Here's a thought," _Espio suggested, rubbing his forehead to try clear the headache Vector's voice was causing, _"How about we put the ad on our website so people can check it out?" _Vector's eyes brightened up when he heard this, saying _"Espio, that's a brilliant idea! We've got da laptop back at home, so I'll go get it and try get that ad on!"_

He turned around and walked over towards the door when Mighty asked _"Hey Vector, do you remember your password for editing the website?" _Almost immediately, the crocodile stopped in his tracks and turned white as he mumbled _"…No…I forgot it…"_

And in response, Honey, Mighty, Espio, Kyle and even the sleeping Charmy all crashed to the floor with their feet dangling in the air, crashing so heavily that the denizens nearby swore that a earthquake was going on.

**The End**

_**Next time on the World's Greatest Detectives: **__Lately, there's been rumors going around that the mansion on Wesker Hill is actually haunted. Taking on a bet to see if they can stay in the house for twenty-four hours and try to solve this mystery, will the Chaotix make it out alive or will they wet themselves to death? Find out next time in __**05 - Not-so Ghostbusters! **__With more fan service to come…maybe._

_Message from the Author - 28/April/2013_

_(Oh thank Brian Blessed, this episode's finally done. First of all, I wanna apologize for the insane amount of procrastination and delays between the later chapters, where there was a wait of at least two weeks at one point. I'm really sorry about and I hope you can forgive me about it._

_Secondly, this was a pain to write; as I said up top, I didn't know the rules of poker so I had to just wing it and pray I didn't screw it up. Not to mention that this episode wasn't really going anywhere a lot of the time, at least in my opinion._

_In any case, I'm finally done and as usual, tell me what you thought of this chapter and the episode in general, and if I can make any improvements on my writing style in general._

_Until we meet up for the next chapter, another Intermission chapter actually, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	23. Intermission 02 - Remembrance

_(Mood music! - The Fragrance of Dark Coffee)_

_July 21__st__, 1:56pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

Dark grey overcast clouds covered the coastal city, showing only the briefest bits of sunshine breaking through, while heavy amounts of rain poured down onto the streets, drenching everything in its path as people went about their daily business, albeit completely soaked.

However, it wasn't all bad; the rain could provide a very nice backdrop and for some, is much better than even the sunniest of days. One of these people was Espio, who was observing this in a familiar café as smooth, soothing jazz melodies played in the background.

The purple chameleon was sitting alone at a table by the window, holding a cup of coffee in one hand while a newspaper and a notepad lay on the table. It was just one of these days where life at the Chaotix was a little too chaotic; Vector was shouting at Tails over the phone about trying to get his website password back and Mighty was arguing with Charmy over who had won the final match in Virtua Fighter 3.

It got a bit too much for the young reptile and he had to escape from it…at least for a little while. As raindrops hit and then sank down the window, he felt much more at peace than he did half an hour ago. He looked towards the jukebox opposite his table and figured that the jazz helped a great deal with that.

As he actually started to really listen to the saxophone solos and piano instrumentals, he noticed that the general way the song was composed left a feeling of nostalgia; memories of days long gone by that could never be experienced again.

He observed his cup of coffee and remembered a conversation he had with the town's Police Commissioner regarding a certain matter.

_(For some context, read Chapters 13-17 - Author)_

_June 31__st__, 2:27pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

The Chaotix had just finished off a very dangerous, even admittedly bizarre, case that involved taking care of a psychotic rhino that had some kind of a mind-control device around its neck. They were currently treating themselves to a big meal that the Commissioner decided to get in on for the heck of it.

At this point, Vector and Charmy had gone over to the jukebox to play some tunes and the Commish _(as Vector often referred to him as) _shook his own coffee cup and upon feeling how light it was, he looked over to Espio and asked _"Hey Espio, wanna help me get a refill?"_

Espio looked up from the ramen bowl he was eating at the time and thought about this for a few moments until he shrugged and replied _"Sure, why not?" _He and the Commish got up from the table and walked over to the counter upon which the Commish ordered a refill for his coffee.

As the two waited for that job to be done, Espio turned to the Commish and asked _"If you were going to order the refill yourself, why did you need me to come over here with you?" _with a slightly confused expression on his face.

"_I guess," _the Commish replied as he leaned on the counter and started tapping his fingers on it in a rhythmic fashion, _"I just wanted to talk with you about a few things…how are you holding up?"_

"_Well enough," _Espio remarked, folding his arms as he turned to lean on the counter as well, _"things can get a little hectic, I'll admit, but for what it's worth, it could be much worse. What's all the concern about anyways?"_

An employee showed up to pour more coffee into the Commish's cup as he replied _"Well, you see…oh, thanks for the refill…anyways, it's just it's going to be seven years in a couple of months. Seven years since…you know."_

"_I know," _Espio remarked, his eyes darting away from the Commish, _"…far too well, unfortunately. However, I'll pull through it…like always." _before he sighed very wearily.

The Commish looked at the chameleon detective for a moment when he felt a ringing in his trench-coat pocket. He took out a small cell-phone and pressed a button before holding it up to his face, asking _"Commissioner Drummond here; what is it?"_

Espio could only hear brief babblings of speech from the phone as the Commish continued _"…So you've got the results…yeah…right…that's very strange…I understand; I'll get back to you later. Thanks for that." _before he pressed another button on the phone and put it back into his pocket.

"_So what was that all about?" _Espio curiously asked, his eyes looking back towards the Commish.

"_Well, I had that mind-control device for that rhino checked," _the Commish replied as he took another sip of his coffee and walked closer to Espio, _"and they told me that the device had a trademark by a company named Verrat. Does that sound familiar?"_

Espio paused for a few seconds, stroking his chin as he consulted the depths of his mind for an answer, before he said _"In some way, yes…but why are you asking me this?"_

"_I figured you might've heard it before," _the Commish replied as he folded his arms, still holding his cup, _"since I heard that same name crop up before; in last week's incident with the Babylon Rogues, to be exact."_

Espio raised an eyebrow in surprise, swaying slightly backwards upon remembering that case, as the Commish continued _"The remains of the robots that were used to rob the bank that morning were inspected and they found the exact same trademark."_

"…_Curious," _Espio remarked as he closed his eyes in thought, _"Those last two cases had the involvement of the same company; what could it mean?"_

"_Unfortunately, I can't tell you that," _the Commish wearily stated, softly tapping the counter once more, _"I enquired about it with the Mayor but when I mentioned 'Verrat', he quickly told me that it wasn't any of my concern."_

"_So, once more," _Espio sarcastically said, _"the corrupt police and politicians can't do a damn thing to solve things; why am I not surprised?" _with the last sentence being said through angry, gritted teeth.

All the Commish could do was simply sigh and roll his eyes at what felt like the millionth person calling out the police on their methodology and politics while Espio continued _"Fine; I'll get through the bottom of this myself, regardless of your jurisdiction."_

The Commish unfolded his arms as he said _"Alright, but if you need any help, just call me and I'll see what I can do, okay?" _to which Espio sarcastically grunted before walking back over towards the table.

The Commish's grip around the coffee cup tightened as he silently spoke _"He's still just a child." _before he followed Espio back to the table.

_July 21__st__, 2:01pm_

_Sparkling Emerald, Emerald Coast_

The rain was beginning to die down as more sunshine rays got through the clouds hovering high above while Espio finished up his coffee cup and got back to his private investigation. He read through his newspaper, particularly an article concerning technology invented by Verrat Enterprises_, _while writing inside his notepad.

The notepad had several things written in it concerning Verrat such as _"Why develop mind-control technology?" _or _"Do they truly help people, or do they hinder them?"_ but most particularly of all was an entry that read _"Belwork Trayal…he can't be…could he?"_

He observed a picture of the company's CEO, Belwork Trayal, a purple chameleon, much like himself, except this one had a smaller horn protruding from his forehead and was wearing a pair of sunglasses, and thought about this man for a few seconds deep in thought.

Suddenly, it was interrupted by a nasally Brooklyn accent that made its presence clear to even the dead by saying _"I figured I'd find ya here!" _Espio looked up from the newspaper and found Vector standing triumphantly in front of him as the crocodile continued _"So how's your little investigation goin'?"_

Espio closed up his notepad and folded up his newspaper, making sure Vector didn't glance over, replying _"Well enough; how'd your argument with Tails go?"_

"_Not very well," _Vector irritably replied, folding his arms in annoyance as a frown appeared on his muzzle, _"He kept sayin' to check my inbox and I kept tellin' 'im that I forgot my password. And then, he just hung up on me; can you believe that?!"_

"_Actually, I could believe it." _Espio cheekily remarked as he softly chuckled, much to Vector's annoyance as the crocodile rolled his eyes and looked away. Espio picked up the notepad and newspaper as he said _"Anyways, I'm done for now. Wanna get a copy of PlayReptile?"_

"_Only if you're da one paying!" _Vector eagerly replied as he walked over to the door, quickly followed by Espio, who simply affirmatively hmmed in response. _"Good ta know; just don't buy any of that tentacle nonsense!" _the crocodile detective continued as he opened the door for himself and Espio.

Espio shook his head and replied _"Again, manga isn't just hentai!" _though Vector seemed to completely ignore this by just rolling his eyes in derision as the both of them walked off towards the nearest magazine shop.

While he was content with going along with things, a question did appear at the back of Espio's mind; a question that would have to been answered sooner or later.

"_Exactly what did happen to Belwork Trayal?"_

**The End…**

_Message from the Author - 1/May/2013_

_(Firstly, happy 1__st__ day of summer to all those reading…except anyone who lives in Ireland, since it means we're gonna get more bloody rain, as usual._

_Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed my second intermission, a brief series of teasers done every two episodes to explain certain events and foreshadow future ideas and episode plots, though it's not needed to understand things when we get to them._

_My conversation writing style is also different, upon taking advice from BinaryHedgehog's reviews, so tell me what you think of it, along with this chapter._

_In any case, I hope you've enjoyed things and until we meet again in Episode 05, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	24. 05 Not-So Ghostbusters! - 1 of 6

_July 22__nd__, 9:06pm_

_Wesker Hill, Emerald Coast_

On a dark rainy night, on a hilltop on the near outskirts of the city, lay an enormous mansion, one that was old and decrepit, looking as if it hadn't been inhabited in over 50 years or even more; the wood was wasting away to nothingness, windows were constantly creaking and bats flew out from the tower sticking out from the mansion's roof because apparently, that had to happen with every haunted house.

Far below at the entrance to this mansion were two young Overlanders; the first was a teenage boy with shaggy hair and spectacles dressed up in camouflaged clothes as if he was in the military constantly carrying around a video camera, filming everything in sight.

While the other was slighter older looking, had a darker tan and short black hair, clad in some kind of tracksuit, and was currently leaning on a support beam by the entrance of the mansion, tapping his foot impatiently as he looked at the military otaku with the camcorder and irritably asked _"Exactly how longer are we gonna be here, Ken? I'm goin' nuts!"_

The otaku named Ken lowered the camera from his face, revealing an red mark around his eye, and replied with a shrill, annoying voice _"Aw c'mon, Toji; you know about the rumors of this place being haunted. Imagine if we got footage of actual ghosts or something; we'd be the talk of the town!"_

"_Wait a minute," _Toji asked, tilting his head in slight confusion, _"If there are ghosts around, not saying there isn't, but if there were and we taped them, how would we get out alive?" _Ken froze altogether to consider this possibly, pushing his glasses up to his nose bridge in thought, before he simply shrugged and went back to taping the front entrance.

Toji's eyes clenched up in annoyance and he let off an irritated sigh, saying _"Fine, but if we're trying to get proof that this place is haunted, then shouldn't we actually go inside instead of staying out here?" _Much to his dismay, the amateur film-maker of a friend was too distracted by the creaking of a nearby window to actually bother replying.

Toji angrily grunted as he got off from the support beam and walked over to the door. He reached out for the round handle, intending to grab it, when it suddenly started shaking sporadically, causing the young teenager to stagger back in shock, stammering _"W-w-w-what the…?!"_

"_What is it now, Toji?" _Ken tiredly asked as he turned around and upon seeing the shaking door-knob, his eyes lit up and he ran right over to the door and started filming the fidgeting object, excitedly saying _"Holy crap, an actual possessed object! That's proof that this place is haunted!"_

Toji was currently wetting himself with fear, wildly shaking in place, as he stammered _"W-w-w-well, if that's all we need, c-can we p-p-please get the hell outta here?!" _as his breathing rapidly increased in fear and dread.

Ken shook his head and reached for the door knob, saying _"We can't; like you said, we should go inside and check things out." _He grabbed the shaking handle and slowly pulled backwards to try open the door. However, it seemed to work too well as the door opened with such a force that it broke of its hinges and flew about ten feet away from the two young men.

"…_The hell was that all about, Ken?!" _Toji dreadfully asked as his eyes grew even wider and his jaw practically dropped through the ground, _"Since when in God's name did you get that strong?!" _However, the shaggy haired otaku was currently shaking in fear as well, his eyes nearly ready to pop out of his head as he stared at where the front door formerly was.

The track suited teenager raised an eyebrow in confusion and despite 99.9% of his being telling him not to do it, he turned his head to look at whatever was freaking Ken out. At the very entrance into the mansion stood an unholy apparition; a decrepit looking shadow of a human being with dead grey skin, tattered clothes and most notably, a lack of a right arm and the left side of its head, leaving only bloody guts dangling out from that missing side.

This monstrous thing stumbled slowly towards the two Overlanders, smiling a horrifying half-smile that revealed sharp teeth as it moaned a terrifying sound that shook the two to their very core. The being reached out his left hand, scarred, bruised and bleeding all over, towards the two as it continued moaning.

However, it was unable to make any further contact as the two young teenagers jumped out from their clothes, completely white with fear, and ran away from the mansion as fast as they possibly could, not caring that it was now pouring down heavily as long as they were able to get away from that horrifying monster.

This disturbing creature stood at the very edge of the entrance as it watched the two young men run away in terror, smiling in delight as its moans soon turned into a horrifying laugh that grew louder and louder, echoing throughout the dark night skies and the rest of the city.

_(Mood music! - When I find peace of mind - Shiro Sagisu)_

_July 23__rd__, 9:02am_

_Chaotix HQ, Emerald Coast_

In a massive contrast to the night before, this morning was very calm and peaceful; the sky was a cheerful blue with little cloud streaks passing across it, the sun shone brightly and birds gleefully tweeted. Unfortunately, it seems the sun shone too brightly through a window of the Onett Department Store and into the eyes of a black armadillo.

Mighty covered his eyes with a lazy hand to try ignore it but the sun still managed to get through a few faint rays into the Mobian's eyes, forcing him to sit up from his pretty comfortable bed, rubbing his eyes to try properly wake up. He shook his head and yawned, stretching out his arms instinctively, before he got out of bed and walked over to the window.

He opened it up and was hit with a strong blast of ocean air as he looked outwards; past the leaves and branches of the trees just outside his side of the building was a lovely view of the city, the surrounding mountains and even the ocean at the edge of the area. It was moments like this that made the armadillo forget that his eyes were being assaulted by solar rays less than thirty seconds and smile contently.

After a few minutes of the sea air waking him up for real, he started off with some morning stretches to get himself into shape and when that was done, he got on his gloves and shoes and reached under his bed, pulling out a small box that contained about 50 or so Mobucks in it.

He took about 15 Mobucks before sliding the box back under and walked over to the door, opening it slowly, and quietly sneaked out of his room, making sure that he didn't wake up anyone else. The old, wooden floorboards creaked under his feet, making him gulp nervously as he turned his head around to see if anyone was there.

The hall behind him contained no-one at all so in response, he sighed in relief and sneaked over towards the door out of the building, reaching his hand out for the handle when suddenly Espio appeared right beside the door and whispered _"Where are you off to now?"_

Mighty jumped back, softly yelling shock before he covered his own mouth to shut himself up. After a moment or two, he lowered his hand and gave Espio an angry glare as he irritably asked _"What the heck was that about, partner? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"_

Espio non-chalantly leaned on the wall next to the door, replying _"I got up to watch Super Shinobi…and I realized that it was on Saturdays, not Fridays. So I took a light nap and when I heard a door open, I thought I'd go invisible and play a little prank. Hope you don't mind." _as he gave the shelled Mobian a very cheeky grin.

Mighty angrily moaned, apparently trying to blow up Espio's mind with a heat vision given the glare the chameleon was receiving, as said chameleon continued _"And you didn't answer my question; where are you off to?"_

Mighty gave up on his head-exploding quest as he slumped and said _"I was just going out for a little walk…thought I might try get something." _scratching his head and smiling nervously.

Espio raised an imaginary eyebrow in curiosity and walked slowly towards the armadillo as he asked _"And what is this 'something' you're planning on getting?" _The back of his mind pondered that Mighty might be out to get something _naughty_, before the front of his mind slapped that thought out and cursed himself for being around Vector too much.

Mighty staggered back slightly, blushing as he stammered _"N-none of your business!" _He was planning this to be a surprise and having someone find out about it would make it anything but a surprise; in fact making it the least surprising thing since the author of this story decided to procrastinate on his work yet again.

"_None of my business?" _Espio sarcastically repeated as he folded his arms and walked even closer, _"I'm very sure you got mad at me when I told you that exact phrase. That's a bit hypocritical, isn't it?"_

"_Yeah…maybe." _Mighty admitted as he looked towards the ground. He knew that Espio wasn't going to drop this until he found out what it was that Mighty was going to do so he took a deep breath and looked back up at the chameleon, saying _"Fine, you got me. I'll show ya."_

Mighty walked around Espio over to the door and opened it, holding it open while he cheekily bowed like some kind of servant, leading Espio to slightly tilt his head and ask _"…What are you doing?"_

"_Well, I haven't bought it so I might as well show you." _Mighty cheerfully replied as he rose up from his bow and walked out the door, quickly followed by Espio as he continued _"And besides, I thought I could talk to you about a few things…if that's okay."_

Espio unfolded his arms as he replied _"Depends on what you're asking…" _walking with Mighty down the hall to the main section of the Onett Department Store and out towards the exit of the building.

Mighty scratched his chin as he racked his brain for a question when his eyes lit up and he looked at Espio, asking _"Exactly why do we have pockets in our legs?" _The only response he got was just Espio staring off into the distance, looking as if he'd never wondered about this before.

After they'd walked out the building and were currently going down the hill, Espio finally replied _"…I have no idea."_

_July 23__rd__, 9:45am_

_Mykonos Pier, Emerald Coast_

The white streaks of cloud had become larger as they drifted eternally and peacefully across the endless blue sky, high above the wooden pier that faced the vast, wide ocean. It looked like it was very busy today with many people walking around, sitting at small tables to talk or appreciate the view, stalls and vendors placed about to try sell their products as calming guitar serenades play from a nearby speaker.

And soon, two young detectives walked down the pathway to the pier as the shelled one of the two continued in his long ramble _"…And so, they ended up using me as the basketball." _smiling cheerfully as he nervously chuckled.

"…_And you were actually okay with doing that?" _Espio cautiously asked with a slightly concerned look on his face, _"Don't tell me you're one of 'those' people…" _his arms casually stuck into his leg pockets.

Mighty looked at the chameleon, rather confused, for a few seconds until he put two and two together, upon which he started laughing outright, shaking his head as he said _"No, no, no, no, no! I'm not into that kind of thing, but I just needed some practice for getting this shell as sturdy as it is!" _while he knocked on the shell on his back to demonstrate his point.

Espio raised an eyebrow as he pondered out loud _"Considering that shell smashed our poker table," _as he lifted a finger from his leg pockets to point at said shell, _"how can anyone actually pick it up, let along bounce of the floor repeatedly?"_

Mighty scratched his nose and nervously replied _"Um…video game logic?" _Espio stared at Mighty in complete bamboozlement for several seconds until the armadillo said _"Well, we did a play a mini-game in reality so it can't be that much different." _non-chalantly shrugging as usual, when he suddenly caught sight of a certain stall near the edge of the pier.

His eyes lighting up and a confident grin appearing on his muzzle, Mighty walked straight over to it, quickly followed by Espio who tilted his head to see exactly what was being sold at this oh-so legendary stall. The first thing that caught the chameleon's eye was how colourful it was; prissy pinks, sunshine yellows, blood reds and all manner of colours decorated the armadillo's destination.

As he got closer, Espio began to notice that the whole stall looked very frilly…and strangely familiar. He couldn't put his finger on it but it felt rather nostalgic, as if he'd seen this stall before. Only when he caught up with Mighty did he remember what it was; there was a sign on the wall below the stall that read out _'Le Pew's Flowers'._

That's right; he used to buy flowers from this very stall…at least, back when 'she' was still with them…

"_Espio?"_

The chameleon's eyes widened out slightly as he was brought back to reality and noticed that Mighty was holding a small stack of flowers; white and yellow roses tied up with a tiny string with a note attached to it. The armadillo tilted his head as he asked _"You okay, partner?"_

"…_Yeah, I'm fine," _Espio replied, shaking his head to get his senses back into gear, _"just got a little distracted is all. It's nothing to worry about; anyways, what's with the flowers?" _

Mighty took a quick glance at the roses as he said _"They're a present for a friend…just my way of saying thanks…for what they've done for me over the last month." _as his concerned expression formed into a soft smile.

"_Has it really been a month since you showed up?" _Espio asked, putting his hands back into his pockets once more, _"Time passes quickly, doesn't it?…So, who're you giving the flowers to? Not me, I hope…" _giving the armadillo a slight cheeky grin.

"_Don't worry, it isn't for you," _Mighty cheerfully replied as he started walking again, _"I've got something just as good in store for you."_

"_Of course…" _Espio sarcastically remarked as he began walking alongside Mighty for a few seconds when the implication of that last sentence hit the chameleon like an 88 mile an hour DeLorean, upon which he stopped, eyes widened out and jaw hitting the floor, and asked _"Exactly…what did you mean…by something in store for me?"_

Mighty looked back and replied _"I wouldn't wanna spoil your fun." _giving the reptilian detective a chuckle and a friendly wink as he kept walking. After a moment or two in stunned silence, Espio shook his head and started walking again, catching with the black Mobian just as they saw two familiar faces.

At one in gathering of small tables next to a small staircase back up to the sidewalk were Honey and Sonic the Hedgehog, the national hero of Mobius who'd helped Mighty out with his first official case several weeks ago. However, there was also a third person at the table, talking with the two.

A female looking hybrid between what appeared to be a chipmunk and a squirrel with medium red hair and most notably, _(at least to everyone with male genitalia within a five mile radius) _she only wore a open vest jacket and a pair of knee high boots, both of them blue as the speedy hedgehog she was talking to.

Currently, the Blue Blur was finishing off a long story as he said _"…And we decided to use him as a basketball." _When he noticed the two detectives walking towards his table, he gave them a cheerful thumbs up, saying _"Hey there, we were just talking about ya!"_

"_So I heard," _Mighty sarcastically noted as he hid the batch of flowers behind his back before giving a greeting salute to the squirrel and cheerfully saying _"Mornin', my name's Mighty! Nice to meet ya!"_

"_And the same to you, Mighty," _the squirrel replied as she leaned forward slightly on her chair, _"I'm Sally. Sally Acorn." _

"_Hold on, Sally?" _Mighty asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice as he raised an invisible eyebrow, _"You mean like 'Sal' Sally?" _to which she simply nodded, though it looked like she was also giving an annoyed glare to Sonic at the back of her vision.

Mighty stroked his chin in thought for a few seconds until he snapped his fingers as he said _"Now I remember, you're that girl Sonic liked back when we were kids!" _as a nostalgic blush crept up on both Sonic and Sally's faces, _"So I see you two finally hooked up! Took long enough!"_

Sonic leaned on a lazy hand as he replied _"Well…sorta." _to which a question mark somehow appeared over Mighty's head. Desperately ignoring the fact that all logic had just been shagged up the arse, the Blue Blur continued _"We dated for about a year or two and then, things got kinda…rocky…"_

A confused yet concerned look formed on Mighty's face as he leaned forward and asked _"How so?" _He was simply met with an incredibly awkward silence as everyone within hearing distance gave him a very uncomfortable look. What felt like ten minutes passed until he asked _"…What is it?"_

Almost instantly, Sonic and Sally fell off their chairs in astounded bewilderment while Honey proceeded to rub her forehead, completely confounded, and Espio slapped the back of Mighty's head as he said _"You'll have to excuse my co-worker; he has a thing for sticking that pointy nose of his into other people's business." _flicking the armadillo's nose while giving him a very annoyed glare.

While the two fallen Mobians got back up onto the table, Mighty rubbed his nose, angrily mumbling _"Well, at least I have a nose…" _before he rolled his eyes and spoke up once more, saying _"Anyways, sorry 'bout that; it was pretty rude. So, things didn't work out between you two?"_

"_Unfortunately, no…" _Sally replied with a hint of anger and regret in her voice. She looked at the blue hedgehog just getting up and, feeling a little vindictive after being reminded of what happened, an evil smirk appeared on her face as she looked at the two detectives and cheerfully asked _"So you wanna know what Sonic was like in bed?"_

Almost immediately, Sonic turned into a very red recolor as he slammed his arms on the table and leaned over to his ex-lover, saying _"DON'T TELL THEM ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" _while Honey, Espio and Mighty stared on, intrigued.

Sal ignored the bloody livid hedgehog breathing through nose and gritted teeth like a bull right next to her and slyly replied _"Well…let's just say, when he tells you he's the fastest thing alive, don't believe a word of it." _Mighty and Honey burst out laughing, along with Espio chuckling, as Sonic hid his enormous spiky head in his peach arms in embarrassment.

After a few seconds, Mighty's laughter came to a close as he said _"Actually, while we're on the topic," _pulling out the flowers behind his back and showing them to the now-giggling Honey, _"here ya go, Honey!" _with a slightly confident grin on his face.

Upon seeing the flowers, the feline friend leaned back slightly as she observed the flowers, a small blush appearing on her fluffy muzzle as she nervously asked _"T-these are…for me?" _to which the armadillo gleefully nodded. A second or two passed in silence until she asked once more _"But…what for?"_

"_Well," _Mighty replied, scratching his head as a blush formed on his muzzle, _"it's just my way of saying thanks. I mean, you helped me join up with the Chaotix…and that means a lot to me, so thanks." _as he nervously chuckled.

The blush on Honey's muzzle deepened as a soft smile appeared on her face and even possibly a sign of a tear in her eye as she took in the white and yellow flowers and replied _"T-thank you, Mighty…"_

"_It's not trouble, really," _Mighty said back as he chuckled for a few seconds until he said _"And you actually called me Mighty for once. Can things get any better?" _with a joking tone at the last sentence.

"_Great, you've just jinxed us," _Espio remarked, folding his arms and looking rather annoyed, _"Whenever someone tempts fate, it always means something bad. Next thing I know, Vector's gonna come running over to us yelling about a brand new case."_

And since the author was also feeling pretty vindictive as well, Vector and Charmy suddenly appeared on the scene, running down towards the tables looking pretty bloody exhausted as the former yelled _"Hey guys, we've got a new case on our hands!"_

"_And you're calling me out on tempting fate!" _Mighty cheekily remarked as Espio covered his face in embarrassment.

"_We were walkin' round town tryin' at find some birds," _Vector loudly proclaimed,_ "when we heard 'bout this haunted house up on Wesker Hill. There's a ton of people there and this might be a chance to get some cred…especially since that website went tits-up… Anyways, c'mon!" _before he took off again.

"_Aww, c'mon Vector!" _Charmy complained as his tiny wings started wavering, _"I'm really tired! Can we take care of it some other time?!"_

"_Sorry, bud," _Mighty replied as he picked up the knackered bee and placed him on his back, _"but a case is a case. 'Sides, I wanna see what's with this haunted house." _After this, he and Espio began jogging to catch up with Vector as Mighty shouted back to Honey _"I'll see ya later then; hope you like the flowers!" _They continued jogging until the three detectives were out of the smiling cat's sight.

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 11/May/2013_

_(Sorry for the delays, I've just really busy/lazy and it's been difficult trying to write certain parts, though at least I'm finally done._

_Anyways, like before, there's no real plot developments and it's mostly just character moments, as well as some subtle foreshadowing for a future episode, though you'll know what I mean when we get there._

_As usual, tell me your thoughts on this chapter and if I can make any improvements to my writing style, please tell me! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	25. 05 Not-So Ghostbusters! - 2 of 6

_July 23__rd__, 10:06am_

_Wesker Hill, Emerald Coast_

For some bizarre or incredibly contrived reason, all of the clouds had clumped together over an old haunted mansion on the very top of the barren Wesker Hill and formed into an enormous grey cloud that was pouring rain down on the mansion. Just outside the rusty, squeaky gates to the path leading up to this mansion were a crowd of about twenty or so people.

As our heroic detectives finally got up to the gates, they could hear a nasally, overly dorky voice say _"…And then, the door swung open and revealed…a terrifying, blood-curdling zombie!" _to which the crowd responded with a tremendous gasp of shock. The voice then continued _"It stood there at the door, reaching its hand out towards me and Toji…and what did we do?"_

The four Mobians pushed through the crowd and saw that just standing at the very entrance of the gate were two young Overlanders; one with shaggy hair and spectacles clad in faux-military gear and the other was darker-skinned and wore a black tracksuit. This second teenager, apparently named Toji, confidently stood tall as he replied to his otaku friend and the crowd _"Did we run away? Hell no; Ken and I stood our ground and punched it so hard that it turned to ash!"_

The crowd of similarly young teens echoed a sentiment of _"Woah…" _some more enthusiastic than others as the Chaotix finally broke through and stood in front of the tall gate. Vector folded his arms and said _"This is da place I was on about."_

"_Wait a minute," _the track-suited teen asked with an air of irritance, _"are you guys trying to muscle in on our fame?" _However, the only response he received from the detectives were a weirded-out look from Mighty and Charmy and no response from, bizarrely enough, both Espio and Vector. Feeling he had to do something, Toji rolled up his sleeves and held in arms in the air as he angrily continued _"Cuz if so, then you've got another thing comin'…" _

This aggressive adolescent kept rambling about how he'd kick all of the Chaotix's asses while Vector simply kept his arms folded and stared at the old, abandoned house looming over him and the rest of the crowd. After a few seconds, Espio tapped the crocodile's shoulder, asking _"Alright, who are you and what have you done with the real Vector?_

Vector raised an eyebrow, giving the young chameleon a confused look as said chameleon continued _"If you were the real Vector, you'd be having a gigantic cock contest with that guy right now," _thumbing towards the teenager that was now confidently chuckling and flexing his muscles, much to Mighty and Charmy's confusion, _"so again, what's going on?"_

"_Well," _Vector calmly replied, unusually enough, as he pointed at the overconfident Toji and his military otaku friend who'd pulled out a camcorder to film the 'beat-down', _"he and da geek were here last night so we should probably get their help in this case."_

Espio stroked his chin in thought as a small grin appeared on his muzzle, saying _"That's…actually, a clever plan…for once. Maybe you're a better detective than I gave you credit for."_

A grin appeared on Vector's large snout as he chuckled and gave Espio a confident thumbs-up, saying _"Well, what d'ya expect from da Great Vector?"_

Shortly after, Toji stopped prancing around like a Mortal Kombat-addicted butterfly and put his hands on his hips as he angrily asked _"Hey chumps, how longer are ya gonna keep ignorin' me?!"_

Vector looked over at the two Overlanders as he mumbled something along the lines of _"Oh yeah, those guys…" _before he spoke out loud so suddenly that the Overlanders flinched in shock and held their arms up defensively _"Hey, you two! Ya mind helpin' us out?"_

Toji and Ken, still holding their arms up in such perfect choreography, widened out their eyes massively and asked in unison _"…Wait…what?!…You want us to help you?!"_

Vector responded by cheerfully nodding, which lead to Toji and Ken lowering their arms and looking really confused while doing so. Mighty scratched his head in bewilderment as he looked at Vector and remarked _"Okay, it's one thing that those two speak like they're in some kind of hive-mind but now you want them to help us?! What is up with you today?"_

"_Well, you see," _Vector replied, _"while scoutin' the local high school," _when suddenly everybody, even Charmy of all people, took a step back with disturbed expressions on their faces. The crocodile looked at the crowd and after a few seconds of silence, he asked _"What?!"_

Espio's jaw dropped slightly as he answered _"Vector…you don't notice the implications of what you just said, do you?!" _In response, Vector raised an eyebrow and tilted his head in confusion, after which everybody but him fell to the floor with such a force that half of the city was convinced that Godzilla had gotten bored and decided to come over here for today.

As the crowd of confounded people slowly got back up, Vector suddenly figured what Espio meant before shaking his hands defensively as he hurriedly said _"I-it's not like that; I was only just going after da teachers!" _when everyone fell onto the floor again. Ignoring this, he continued in his ramble _"Anyways, I heard 'bout a couple of high school students that went up to da haunted house here and ran home naked and cryin'!"_

"_S-shaddup!" _Toji nervously replied as he quickly rose up from the ground with an embarrassed look on his face, _"W-we didn't run home! Didn't ya hear us? We beat the z-z-zombie up! Isn't that right, Ken?" _looking down at his shaggy-haired friend, who only slightly nodded since his head had somehow ended up between two other high school girls' legs during the great teen tumble of 3013.

"_If that's da case," _Vector noted, crossing his arms as a devilish smirk appeared on his face, _"then maybe you can show us round da place…that is, if you're not too scared to go in again."_

Toji awkwardly scoffed as he said _"W-we're n-n-not scared at all! I-in fact, I guarantee that you'll b-be the f-f-first to be running outta the mansion screaming for your mammas!"_

"_Is that so?" _Vector tauntingly asked as Toji eagerly nodded in response, _"Alrighty then, that's a bet! Whoever stays in da mansion longer gets all da losers' money; is that a deal?!" _

"_You're damn right it's a deal!" _Toji confidently replied as he shook the crocodile's massive hand, _"Now, let's get this mess started!" _before he and Vector walked confidently through the gates, followed by the cam-cording otaku known as Ken, Charmy and the cheers of the fan girls in the crowd.

"_You know," _Espio said to Mighty with a tone of exasperation in his voice, _"I was starting to think that I could go through one day without Vector acting as usual and that he'd be some kind of help…Guess I was wrong about that, wasn't I?" _before the two detectives walked forward into the front lawn of the mansion.

The lawn consisted of a narrow, stony path in the middle of grey, overgrown grass leading up to a wooden step up towards a rectangular shaped hole where the front door would normally be. However, the door was currently lying about halfway up the path with its hinges ripped out.

"_Ya know," _Vector remarked, _"given how haunted this place is s'posed ta be, I was expectin' dis hill to be a more…silent…get it?" _as a cocky grin formed on his face. The only response he got to his terrible reference however was Espio simply groaning in annoyance as he walked over towards the entrance, noticing a rather odd sight.

Lying on the floorboards in front of the door were two piles of clothes, both looking completely soaked and as yellow as a certain two-tailed fox, and a camcorder that had a slight dent in it. The reptilian ninja-detective stopped to pick up a fragment of the clothing while Mighty passed him before he held it up to Toji and Ken, asking _"This belong to either of you?"_

The track suited youngster folded his arms and looked away, trying to hide a blush of embarrassment, as he stuttered _"N-n-no, course not! You'd think I'd wet myself at t-the sight of some stupid z-zombies?"_

"_I didn't even know this was pee," _Espio sarcastically replied, _"I thought it was just soaked with lemonade; well, we now this is definitely yours now." _with a cheeky grin on his face as he dropped the fragment back into one of the piles and picked up the dented camcorder while Toji gave him the angriest look he could muster, which ended up looking like his eyes were about to fall out of his head.

Espio walked along the dead lawn as he inspected the camcorder, moving it around in his hand to check for any clues as to what exactly happened. Finally, he opened up a small window on the side of it that contained a tiny screen and a number of even tinier buttons, one of which was the Play button. Curious to see if the camera captured anything, Espio inched a finger forward to press it when an irritating voice screeched _**"DON'T TOUCH IT!"**_

The chameleon cringed from the volume of that screech just long enough for Ken to take the camcorder back, inspecting it thoroughly and even caressing it like it was his lover, which, given the look he was giving to it, may not be that far from the truth. Espio slowly walked past the obsessive otaku, trying his best not to think about it, and over to the entrance to the mansion, where the others were already inspecting.

Mighty and Charmy were peeking through the door frame to check out the inside of the mansion while Vector leaned on a nearby pillar and asked Toji _"Lemme ask ya somethin'; ya said that ya punched da zombie's lights out, right?" _to which the tanned teen eagerly nodded. The emerald crocodile thought nothing of it and continued _"Well, what d'ya do after that?"_

Toji's eyes widened out slightly and he began to sweat as he nervously stammered _"W-w-well, when we totalled that c-creep, we figured t-that we'd gotten enough footage and w-went home." _Vector raised an eyebrow leaned forward, giving the boy an odd glare that made him chatter his teeth in fear.

However, Vector's deadly interrogation was interrupted by Espio's sudden reply of _"They actually ran off home." _Everyone at the entrance looked back at the chameleon as he matter-of-factly continued _"Given the yellow piles of clothes back there, the ripped off door, the nervous nicompoop over there," _as he pointed at the now-both annoyed and embarrassed Overlander next to Vector, _"and the damaged camera found by the aforementioned piles, I suspect that the two teens didn't fight the zombie, so much as wet themselves before running home…naked."_

The awed silence that came from this explanation was quickly destroyed when Charmy began giggling at this news, much to Toji's displeasure. Meanwhile, Vector walked down the steps as he curiously asked _"Hold on, there was a camera lying around?" _Espio politely nodded and thumbed toward Ken, who had just finished polishing, cleaning, repairing and sexually harassing the camcorder.

The camouflaged teen walked up to the detectives and his friend as he said _"Well, the camcorder's all better now," _much to the appreciation of no-one as he cheekily asked _"Now, how's about we get this bet started?" _giving Vector a cocky glare. Whatever Ken had intended, it didn't seem to work as the crocodile simply snatched the camera off him and started inspecting it, despite the shrill-voiced protests of _"Don't just snatch it like that; if you rough it up anymore than it already is, it'll only be able to record at 240p."_

Vector stopped in his tracks and gave Ken a massively bamboozled look for a few seconds when the shaggy-haired Overlander replied _"If you made internet videos, you'd understand. Now give it back!" _only for the crocodile to just walk off towards the entrance as he examined it, much to the otaku's annoyance.

As Vector reached the vacant hole in the wall, Toji mockingly bowed as he confidently asked _"Like Ken said, if we've got everything settled, you four ready to go in before ya run home cryin' to your mammas?" _as he sarcastically rubbed a fist against his eye.

"_Actually," _Vector cheerfully remarked as he walked into the mysterious mansion, _"considerin' you and da geek already did that, we've got a head start!" _Toji's eyes widened out in annoyance from this fact, especially after Charmy started giggling again as he, Mighty and Espio followed Vector in.

The first room of the mansion was the kind you'd imagine seeing in any typical 60's horror flick/Scooby-Doo cartoon; dark, broken walls that looked as if they were painted by Cloud Strife and Freddy Kruger was the carpenter, most of the furniture was covered in dusty white blankets because apparently, the owners had time to cover everything with bed-sheets but not enough time to move the sodding things out of the building, and the depressed sounds of an organ echoed throughout the mansion.

Toji and Ken slowly huddled into the building, making sure they didn't step on anything suspicious lest they be damned to a nasty exit quicker than the author had planned for them. However, they jumped with fright when Vector suddenly suggested _"Alrighty then, if we're gonna do this right, then we've gotta split up and look for clues!"_

"_Vector," _Mighty irritably said as Toji and Ken held onto him for dear life, _"I get what you're going for but considering our luggage," _as he gave a very annoyed glance at the two teens-turned-koalas,_ "maybe we should stick together for now. Besides, we don't even know what's in this mansion."_ after which he then dropped the teenagers straight onto the floor.

The crocodile rolled his eyes and groaned wearily before he replied _"Fine, but if we all end up gettin' killed, don't come cryin' to me!" _as he walked towards the massive wooden door facing them and pushed it open, all the while still inspecting Ken's camcorder.

"_But Vec," _Charmy asked as he flew up to Vector with a confused expression on his face, _"If we're dead, how're we gonna come cryin' to ya?" _Strangely enough, Vector completely ignored the question and continued fiddling with the camcorder, much to Charmy's annoyance as he folded his arms and started pouting.

"_Good God," _Espio remarked as he walked alongside Mighty and observed the photographs, the paintings, the artefacts of what had once been, _"if there were moving suits of armour and bats flying out of nowhere, you'd have every horror cliché in the book here."_

"_And is that such a bad thing?" _Mighty innocently asked, folding his arms behind his head as usual, _"I mean, having so much horror tropes in one mansion sounds pretty cool. Think about it; the Chaotix taking on the haunted mansion on Wesker Hill! That'd be a great thing to see on the news, wouldn't it?"_

"_I suppose," _the chameleon replied, rubbing his chin in thought, _"It has been some time since we ended up in the papers. Or gotten paid for that matter; we really have to start picking up soon or we'll be broke…again. And there's no way in hell I'm having any of your chilli dogs again."_

The armadillo's antler-ears drooped slightly at the last sentence as he said _"Aw c'mon, they're not that bad, partner. You just need to get used to them, that's all." _A few seconds passed in awkward silence until Mighty sighed softly before saying _"…You know…it's kinda funny?"_

"_What is?" _Espio asked, raising an invisible eyebrow out of curiosity.

"_It's just…" _Mighty replied, _"When I was little, I always wanted to check out this house and see if it was really as creepy as everyone said. Too bad my mom and dad wouldn't let me go in…guess they just wanted to protect me, you know?" _his cheerful smile subtly turning into a neutral frown.

Seeing the shelled Mobian look anything but cheerful was a very unusual sight for Espio, which just made him even more curious about Mighty. He took a deep breath and asked the armadillo _"Is…something up?…Is it about your parents?"_

"_Yeah, I guess," _Mighty wearily replied, his arms drooping down to his sides as he placed them in his leg pockets, _"It's just been a long time since I've seen them…seven years, I think…honestly, I'm not even sure if they're still alive." _the gaze from his eyes slowly going from the corridor to the floor.

Espio opened his mouth to say something but then closed it when his brain drew a blank. About a minute passed in silence as the two walked down the corridor until Espio took another deep breath and asked _"Do you have any idea what to do about them?"_

Mighty raised his head to look at the ceiling as he slowly replied _"Well…I've got one idea…but I'm not sure if it'll work." _breathing out softly through his rather pointy nose.

"_Well," _Espio pointed out, _"as you'd probably say, you never know until you give it a shot…right?" _as he slowly reached his hand out to Mighty's shoulder before instinctively pulling it back just as it was about to make contact.

Mighty folded his arms out from his pockets as he considered it for a few seconds before he said _"Actually, you're right…I could just try and see what happens…It may not work but hey, at least I tried." _as a smile slowly returned to his muzzle. He looked back at Espio, simply saying _"Thanks for the tip, partner."_

Espio grinned as he replied _"You're welcome…now would you mind telling me exactly what you're planning to treat me to later while we're on the topic?" _

"_What topic?" _Mighty jokingly asked with a little chuckle, _"I told you; you'll have to wait 'till we're done with this case to find out. But don't worry, I think you'll like it!" _giving the chameleon another teasing wink.

Espio attempted to hide a subtle blush by giving Mighty the ultimate death glare _(which basically looked as if someone had just kicked him in the Dragon Balls) _as Mighty jokingly pondered out loud _"Anyways, I wonder how the two brave knights are holdin' up."_

The reptilian detective looked behind him to see Toji and Ken about a million feet behind them, holding onto each other for dear life and inching forward very slowly in case they step on a crack in the floorboards and cause the whole world to end faster than you say _SWISH!_

Espio remarked to Mighty _"Not very well, as you can see." _which lead the armadillo to look back at the two Shaggys while Espio spoke out loud to them _"For being so brave, you're not doing a very good job at keeping that image up. Get a move on!" _In response, the two Overlanders started walking a little bit faster, and by that, I mean they were walking at the speed of molasses as opposed to walking at the speed of cabbage ala before.

After some time, Toji and Ken had caught up with the two Mobians as they walked by a corridor that lead off to the right when a foul moan suddenly echoed from said corridor. All four of the teenagers stopped in their tracks upon hearing this and looked at the corridor to find the source, to which they were greeted with an unsettling sight.

A metallic hand grabbed the edge of the corridor wall and pulled forward to reveal a suit of medievil armour, one that had green smoke flowing all over it. In the helmet's visor, there were two red eyes that had a glare that could kill a man at a thousand paces. The eyes fell upon the teenagers and in response, the foul moan cried out once more, as if it was attempting to suck out their souls.

Toji and Ken staggered back in sheer horror while Mighty and Espio stood there, barely moving an inch. The two Overlanders quaked in their feet before they screamed in frightful terror before running off towards Vector and Charmy. The armadillo and the chameleon stared at the sentient knight in sheer bewilderment as it continued to moan.

The strange thing was, however, that the moan was slowly changing; as if the armour was attempting to speak for the first time in what felt like decades. The apparition's dialogue consisted mostly of long pauses and nonsensical gibberish until it was finally able to speak a soul-shattering sentence: _"…Excuse…me?…Can…you tell me…where…the bathroom…is?"_

To say the detectives' jaws dropped at this stunning revelation would be the biggest understatement since saying that the effects in the Sonic fan film were a bit crap. Mighty slowly rose his arm to thumb towards the direction everyone had come from as he slowly replied _"…Back that way, I think…"_

The knight's crimson eyes turned upside down to form a jolly glare as it slowly said back _"…Thank…you…" _before it stumbled towards the wall at the edge of the corridor, passing right through it as all ghosts, and apparently suits of armour even though that doesn't make a lick of sense, do.

Espio and Mighty continued to stare down the corridor as their minds tried to comprehend exactly what the hell just happened. After several seconds in complete bamboozlement, the chameleon finally said _"…Moving on." _before he walked past the hallway of silliness, quickly followed by the armadillo.

They finally reached the end of the hallway that was longer than most Hanna-Barbera wraparound backgrounds and walked into an enormous room. It was a hexagon-shaped study that contained several red, comfy chairs, a sturdy wooden table and a warm fireplace. However, the most distinctive feature of the this room was the fact that it escalated to an amazingly tall height, almost about a hundred feet, and at the very top of the room was a glass ceiling that gave a spectacular view of the sky, as the rain began to die down and sunshine rays began to peek out from the clumped clouds.

In the middle of the room were Vector, who had his arms folded as he looked up at the glass ceiling, Charmy, who was innocently doing the same thing, and the two Overlander stooges. The track suited one was currently in another of his long rambles as he said exclaimed to the interest of nobody important _"Man, that was terrifyin'! A ghost in a knight suit nearly killed us back there!"_

Ken confidently continued _"Don't worry, though; we gave it a good cleaning and saved your two lackeys from a fate worse than death…wetting themselves!" _appropriately accompanied by an organ going _dun-dun-dun! _This startled the two as they turned around, with scared expressions on their faces, to find the source of that blasted organ.

However, when they saw Mighty and Espio at the entrance to the room, they quickly regained their composure and cockily shouted towards the two detectives _"You're welcome!" _Mighty stared blankly at the not-so daring duo before he shook his head irritably and walked over towards one of the chairs, collapsing on it with a sigh of relief.

"_Honestly," _Espio bitterly remarked as he squeezed the space between his eyes, _"if you two stooges are going to act like you're the greatest gift to people since Viagra, at least keep it consistent!" _And with that, he walked over to the fireplace and leaned on it, folding his arms and closing his eyes as he did so.

Vector looked down from the ceiling as he gleefully rubbed his hands together, saying _"Well, I think this is da right time ta split up; we'll split into different groups and meet up back here whenever we've found out anything. Does that sound like a plan?"_

"_H-hold up a sec," _Toji half-nervously asked as he put his hands on his hips, _"we're actually gonna check this place out…a-apart?!" _as his eyes widened out to the size of dinner plates and his jaw threatened to crash through the floor all the way to Hell, or whatever accounted for Hell on Mobius.

"_Yep!" _Vector eagerly replied with a devilish grin plastered on his face, _"though you can stick with da nerd if ya want." _as he thumbed towards Ken, who was currently mumbling something about the Japanese military to himself to in order to not go about as mad as the author has at this point.

Vector walked over to the fireplace, where Charmy had buggered off to _(no pun intended) _the resting chameleon and armadillo, and leaned on the fireplace with one hand as he said _"Alright guys, here's da plan; we got 'round to different parts of da mansion and find out whatever we can 'bout this place. Got it?"_

"_Alright," _Mighty said as he rose up from the comfy crimson chair, groaning irritably at that fact, _"but what do we do about them?" _pointing towards the two Overlanders with a tone of concern in his voice _"You sure they can take care of themselves?"_

"_Don't worry, Mighty!" _Vector cheerfully replied, _"They'll be fine!" _His resting hand pushed into a brick on the fireplace wall and suddenly the burning embers below went out, casting the room in near darkness. The organ in the background began to play a dark, foreboding tune as green smoke filled the room. The smoke gathered in the centre of the study and rose up into the air, forming an image of a decaying Overlander skull.

Toji and Ken hugged each other for dear life in front of this unholy thing while Mighty and Espio took fighting stances; Mighty going more offensively while Espio kept his stance neutral just in case. The skull observed the pitiful creatures below it as it asked in a demonic, booming voice _**"Who dares to intrude Mason Mansion?"**_

Though his stance was calm as a morning field, Espio's face couldn't be any more different; he looked disgusted at the sight of the skull and it took all the strength he could muster to not vomit up his 9th birthday cake as he slowly asked back _"…What in God's name are you supposed to be?!"_

The skull looked towards Espio with an eyeless, yet still soul-piercing gaze as it politely replied _**"Is it not obvious, dear Espio?" **_while the chameleon raised an eyebrow in confusion, _**"I am the Mansion Master, the spirit of Harry Mason, the most recent owner of this fine house. Despite what you may think, I do not take kindly to people like you barging in and ruining everything!"**_

Espio rose from his stance and folded his arms as he gazed at this strange entity, cautiously asking _"People…like me?"_

The Mansion Master completely ignored this as it continued in its dramatic spiel _**"I'm giving you your first warning. Leave now or you shall face dire consequences!"**_

Toji was currently going through his eleventh-billionth pair of boxers that afternoon but upon observing Espio's calm stance, he confidently stood up and walked over to almost right in front of the enormous floating head, standing on a carpet that mysteriously appeared out of the blue. He folded his arms and gave the Mansion Master a defiant look as he stated _"Yeah right! You don't scare us, Mr Big, Dead and Gruesome!"_

Ken ran over to Toji and tried to pull him back, nervously saying _"Toji, now's really not the best time to go all Bruce Lee…"_

However, the tanned teen shook off his friend's pull, saying _"Not this time, Ken; I'm callin' dis guy's bluff!" _before he triumphantly pointed at the Mansion Master and continued _"We're checkin' out dis house whether you like it or not!"_

The ethereal skull seemed to roll his eyes at this, though given that he had no eyes to speak of, it was more that he rolled his eye sockets, except that just sounds plain silly. Well, however the Mansion Master visually reacted to this, he submitting replied _**"…Very well. Suit yourself."**_

And with that, Toji and Ken suddenly began falling through the mysterious carpet. Despite their attempts to cling onto the hardwood floor and Mighty, Espio and Charmy coming over to try help them up, the two Overlanders sank through the floor and disappeared without a single trace, all while the Mansion Master darkly chuckled at their futile efforts.

Mighty slammed a fist onto the floor out of frustration as the Master concluded _**"Now only three of you remain alive. I'll ask you once more; get out or you'll face the same fate as your fallen comrade." **_before it slowly vanished away from the study, bringing with it the emerald fog that swirled through the floor. The fireplace burned up once more and the organ was about to finish its deadly piece when the sound suddenly cut off.

Mighty rose up on one knee with a weary, bewildered expression on his face as he commented _"You know, the mood was fine but that organ cutting off like that kinda…ruined it…"_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 5/Jun/2013_

_(First of all, I'm really, really sorry for the sudden break in my work; I've just been really lazy as of late but I promise to try my hardest and get these chapters out at some kind of decent schedule, which I'm changing from the original one-every-five-days to one-per-week. I can only pray this works better._

_In any case, I'd like to point out that this is actually my 25__th__ chapter and as such, I'd like to thank everyone whose read, reviewed or even taken a quick peek at it over the last near 6 months since the fic started…damn, time passes quickly doesn't it?_

_Anyways, as before, tell me what you think of the chapter and if I can make any improvements on my writing style. All criticism, positive or negative, is very welcome but please be fair about it. In any case, I'll see everyone next time for when things get truly SPOOKY *wooooooooo*…that didn't work did it?_

_Oh well, until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000_

_P.S. As a tidbit about the side characters, Toji and Ken are actually supposed to be Toji Suzahara and Kensuke Aida, aka the tracksuit guy and the nerd with the annoying dub voice, from Neon Genesis Evangelion. To anyone who got the reference, you are awesome! :D)_


	26. 05 Not-So Ghostbusters! - 3 of 6

_(Good ol' unsettling mood music - M-13 Take 1 - Neon Genesis Evangelion)_

_July 23__rd__, 10:31am_

_Mason Mansion, Wesker Hill_

It's not everyday that you get to see two people physically sink through a wooden floor and vanish altogether at the will of a disembodied floating head born from the spirit of a terrible horror reference but on this particular day, all four of the Chaotix saw this very sight occur right in front of them.

Sitting on a cushiony chair in the study this event took place in, Mighty scratched his head in sheer bamboozlement as he worriedly asked no-one in particular _"Exactly how in God's name did that happen?! One minute, Toji and Ken are there and the next, they're completely gone!"_

"_Well, I'm glad ta see 'em gone!" _Vector remarked as he leaned back on another chair opposite Mighty, _"They probably just would've gotten in da way. Least it means we can get on with things now!"_

Mighty clenched up his fists in frustration as he asked _"How can you be so cold? Two people just died and you're shrugging it off just like that!" _with a tone of anger picking up during the second sentence.

"_They didn't die." _Vector said back, as he folded his arms and looked up towards the glass ceiling high above them _"Just 'cause they sank through da floor don't mean they've snuffed it!"_

"_Hey Vec," _Charmy curiously asked as he hovered around Vector, _"How do you know those two wimps aren't dead?"_

Vector's eye twitched somewhat at this question before he replied _"…Well, it's just detective's intuition. Ya gotta trust that and hope da two of dem ain't dead." _He then stretched his arms and rose up from the chair as he continued,_ "Anyways, like I said, at least we don't have ta worry 'bout those two now. Hey Esp, what ya thinkin' 'bout?" _as he looked at the chameleon leaning on the fireplace.

Espio was taking his usual contemplative pose; eyes closed, arms folded and head directed up above. He stayed in this position as he replied _"That head…the so-called Mansion Master. Something about that…thing seems really off."_

"_Well, a course!" _Vector cheerfully remarked as he placed his hands on his hips, _"It's a ghost that came and went just like that!" _snapping his fingers to prove his point, _"Everythin's gonna be off 'bout it!"_

"_No, it's not that." _Espio said back, as he opened his eyes and looked back down at his comrades, _"What I mean is that something felt really inconsistent about it. Remember when it swallowed up those two teens, it said that there were only three of us left, even though there's still us four."_

"_And what about that organ cutting off like that?" _Mighty pointed out as he turned his head to the other three detectives, _"You can't just ignore something as mood-wrecking as that!"_

The chameleon stroked his chin as he continued _"That's right. You get two inconsistencies like that happening almost back-to-back and you know that there's more to this then what we know…"_

Seconds passed in silence until Espio finally concluded _"However, we don't know enough to really figure things out at this point." _as he unfolded his arms and stopped leaning on the bricked wall, _"So the best thing we can do for now is explore this mansion and find whatever clues we can. Speaking of clues, do you still have that camcorder, Vector?"_

The emerald crocodile fished the camcorder from one of his leg pockets and held it in front of Espio's face as he eagerly replied _"Yep! Ya think I'd give it back to that otaku dweeb before I found anythin' from it? How thick do ya think I am?"_

"_Quite," _Espio whispered under his breath before he spoke out loud _"So, did you find anything interesting from the recorded footage?" _as he reached his hand out towards the camcorder to grab it when Vector suddenly put it back in his leg pocket.

"_Not really," _Vector quickly replied, keeping his hand in the pocket, _"It's just some dumb footage 'bout the two seein' a zombie. And like ya said, they ran off home so really, we don't need ta see it."_

Espio took a quick glance at Vector's leg pocket, remarking _"How come I don't fully trust you on that one? I think the rest of us should take a look to see it. It may as you said, but it's better to know for yourself than trust the words of others."_

Vector raised an invisible eyebrow at this remark and curiously asked _"So, you're saying ya don't trust me?"_

Espio stepped back slightly at this question as he hesitantly replied _"…In this case…no."_

The eldest detective rolled his eyes in response before he said _"Honestly, I'd have thought that after seven years, we'd be able to trust each other on anythin'!"_

"_Says the guy who's taken to hiding his skinmag collection completely," _Espio sternly remarked, much to Vector's embarrassment and sheer annoyance, _"But the point I'm trying to make is that there's something about this case that just feels too off. And until I figure out what that is, I'm trusting my instincts and only my instincts."_

Vector stared at the chameleon with widened-out eyes before sighing in exasperation and admitting _"Alright, fine. We'll take a proper look at da footage when we've found more clues." _as he walks towards a corridor to the left of the fireplace that lead off to another section of the mansion.

"_Hey Vec," _Charmy curiously asked as he flew over to Vector with a puzzled expression on his face, _"why can't we just look at the footage now?"_

"_Kid, I'm not in da mood right now." _Vector coldly answered back, not stopping in his walk down the new hallway. Charmy hovered in a single spot, with his mouth slightly agape at what just happened. The young bee felt something moist form up in his eyes, which he quickly rubbed out with his arm before flying back slowly towards Mighty and Espio.

Espio folded his arms and whispered to Mighty _"Something's off about Vector as well. I'll go with him and see what I can find out."_

Mighty nodded as he replied _"Alright, partner. Me and Charms here'll take a look round for something fun to do. Besides, at least it'll cheer the little guy up." _as he glanced at the sullen-looking bee that flew over towards them. He then gave Espio a thumbs up, saying _"See ya later. Good luck."_

"_Likewise." _Espio remarked before he walked off to follow Vector down the corridor he vanished into. As the chameleon vanished out of sight down the darkness in the hallway, Mighty heard a distant voice remarking _"And don't call him Charms. He hates that name."_

The armadillo silently muttered _"Oh, right." _before he walked over to Charmy, who was hovering closer to the ground with his arms folded and his head tilted upwards, his eyes looking as dim a rainy day. Mighty squatted in place to look Charmy straight in the eye as he cheerfully suggested _"Hey buddy, you wanna check out the rest of the house? I mean, it's what we're here for, right?"_

Charmy breathed out through his nose and slowly nodded as he hovered down a hallway opposite the one the reptilian detectives wandered into, quickly followed by Mighty. As the two walked down the hallway, neither of them spoke for several minutes until Charmy asked out of the blue _"Hey, Mighty? Do ya know why Vector's acting so crabby?"_

Mighty turned around to face Charmy while still walking and put his hands behind his head, replying _"Honestly, I was hoping you'd know that. I've only known the guy for a month but you've known him…how long?"_

Charmy stopped in his tracks and looked up at the ceiling for a few silent seconds before answering _"Five years…I think."_

"_Well, there you go." _Mighty cheerfully continued, as Charmy began hovering forward again, _"You'd have a better idea of knowing what's up with him." _The young bee scratched his chin as he took this idea into consideration while Mighty asked _"How was he this morning?"_

Charmy's eyes gazed towards the decrepit walls of the hallway as he said _"He was horny and loud so about the same as usual. But, while we were at the high school, I had to go to the bathroom. So I went but when I came back, he seemed…what's the word?…Bitter?"_

The shelled detective stopped in his tracks as he tilted his head and raised an invisible eyebrow, as he bewilderedly asked _"…Bitter?"_

"_Yeah," _Charmy replied, _"It's hard to say but normally, there's something nice about Vector. But today…there isn't." _as he flew past Mighty through a door at the end of the hallway. Mighty scratched his head in confusion before he started walking normally again.

He walked into the door Charmy just flew through into a large room. Unlike the study, this new room was surprisingly vacant, all except for a small bookcase in the corner and an enormous ebony grand piano. Even stranger were the complete lack of windows in the room, as if it was designed as some kind of prison.

Charmy was over by the piano, hovering in the air as he tapped the piano keys slowly, and when I say slowly I mean first-timers slowly. Mighty scratched his chin as an idea popped into his head, causing a confident smile to appear on his muzzle. He walked over to the piano and innocently asked _"You like the piano?"_

Charmy looked up from the keys and replied _"Well, kinda. But I can't do the keys that well." _

"_Maybe I can help with that." _Mighty eagerly proposed as he sat down on the small leather seat in front of the piano. As soon as he sat down, a cloud of dust sprung up from the leather, causing him to bring a hand to his mouth and start coughing for a few seconds.

Eventually, the dust settled and Mighty brought his hand down to the piano keys, pausing for a moment as he mumbled _"Now, what were the keys again?…Oh yeah!" _He then played a simple one-handed melody that translates into notes as such: _C-A-C-B-C-B-G_. Mighty looked at Charmy and asked _"You think you can do that?"_

_(Note: I dare you to play those, and the next few sets of, keys on an actual piano. I think you might find a continuity nod or two.)_

Charmy non-chalantly shrugged as he slowly tapped the white piano keys to play the same melody as above, though higher pitched due to hovering more to the right than where Mighty was sitting. _"Pretty good for a beginner." _Mighty cheerfully said in response, _"It's a little slow but it's still good…Here's one I really like."_

He hovered his right hand over the keys and played another simple melody: _C-B-A-G-F-G-C-C-B-A-G-F-E _as he sung in time with each note _"Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars." _When he finished, he chuckled a little bit before he looked at Charmy once more and said _"Well, give it a try."_

The young bee placed his two hands on the keys and began playing the second melody in a manner that wasn't as slow as before and a bit more confident. Upon playing the last key, a bright smile formed on Mighty's muzzle as he said _"For someone who can't do the keys that well, you're actually pretty damn good."_

Charmy chuckled softly at this while Mighty suggested _"Alright, this time, you follow my lead; I keep playing and you try copy it as best you can. Okay?" _The insect detective's eager nodding gave Mighty the answer as he began playing again. He started over from the second melody he played just a few seconds ago: _C-B-A-G-F-G-C-C-B-A-G-F-E._ And like before, he sang in time with the tune _"Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars."_

Charmy followed along at a higher pitch slightly faster than before as Mighty continued in the song, both in keys and words; _F-G-A-G-F-E-D-E-F-A-G-F-E-D-C, "Won't you. Let me see what spring is like, on Jupiter and Mars?" _And much to the armadillo's delight, Charmy was still able to keep up with him, despite the melody getting a little tricky.

_C-D-A-A-C-B-G, "In other words, hold my hand." _Mighty sang and played the keys, at a slower pace as his mind began to wander. He played another set of keys and slowly sang once more: _C-D-F-F-A-G-F-E, "In other words…Honey, kiss me…" _

Upon hearing those last three words, Charmy looked up from the keys at Mighty, whose gaze was directed at the wall, yet looked as if he wasn't really concentrating on it, or anything in particular. The young bee tilted his head and asked _"Mighty, did you just say…what I think you said?"_

The armadillo blinked back into consciousness and glanced at Charmy with a puzzled look on his face. A few seconds passed when his eyes widened out in realization and his muzzle became a very deep shade of crimson as he looked away with his arms folded, nervously protesting _"N-n-n-n-no, I didn't! You're j-just hearing things!"_

"_Oh really?" _Charmy cheekily asked as he hovered around to devilishly smile at Mighty's blood-red face when suddenly, loud sounds started emitting from where the bookcase was sitting. Flinching at first from the sudden shock, the two detectives looked at the nearby wall as sounds of gears turning and bolts unbolted echoed from the bookcase.

After a matter of seconds, the bookcase slowly swung forwards on one side, revealing a misty staircase spiralling downwards into darkness. Mighty slowly got up from the seat and walked over to the bookcase, leaning forward to try get the best possible look at was down below. However, his investigation was suddenly interrupted by Charmy suddenly asking _"So, did you find anything?"_

The armadillo turned around and upon finding the bee barely a foot in front of him, his heart jumped and he started swaying about wildly. He nearly fell down the stairs but caught the edge of the wall just in time and gave Charmy the angriest look that rivalled even Captain Haddock in sheer, unadulterated rage as he hurriedly said _"For God's sake, Charmy, don't scare me like that!"_

Charmy gleefully giggled as Mighty directed his glare back towards the strangely metallic steps below. Holding onto a small rail at the side, the armadillo slowly made his way down the stairs, followed by the curious bee. Step by step, the two descended the spiral staircase for what felt like an eternity until they finally reached the floor.

It was way too dark to see anything at all so Mighty reached a hand outwards to find some sort of solid object or surface to make contact with. A sensation at the tips of his fingers gave him a possible idea so he edged his body up towards where his hand was to confirm it. It felt like some kind of strange structure; he couldn't put his finger on it but something felt very strange about it.

Meanwhile, Charmy had felt his way around another wall and felt a strange digit pointing downwards. Feeling a small ingrave, indicating that the digit pointed upwards, the bee exclaimed _"I found the light switch!"_ and flicked it upwards.Suddenly, a great light filled the room, causing Mighty to briefly shriek and cover his eyes from the incredible brightness. When his eyes had gotten used to the shift, he lowered his hand and looked around the room to see what was around him.

To say it was a strange sight would be an understatement; the room was filled with so many gadgets, gizmos and devices one could think the house was owned by Emmet Brown, though if this was the case, the writer would've spent his time writing an epic Sonic/Back to the Future crossover fic…with massive amounts of Knuckles/Biff shipping. Just cause.

Anyways, another very peculiar aspect about the room was the fact that in each corner of the room were enormous stone statues, but what was even more peculiar about them is that each statue was sculpted to resemble a teenage girl with incredibly endowed…assets placed in a very provocative pose. Mighty stared at this bizarre sight for a few seconds until he remembered that his hand was still holding onto something…

He reluctantly turned his head to see exactly _what_ his hand was holding onto and much to his displeasure, his hand was groping a stone breast of a teenaged cat in a Playboy bunny outfit. The black Mobian stared at his hand for a couple of seconds before he very quickly removed it from the concrete mammary. He looked at his hand, feeling a strange sense of embarrassment and yet, wonder, when Charmy suddenly said _"And I thought Vector was the big pervert of the team?"_

Seemingly too distracted by that odd feeling of his, Mighty only blushed as he gave Charmy a mildly irritated look, saying _"Yeah, well…I'm not planning on doing it again anytime soon." _He then looked over the room one last time and noticed that in the middle lay an enormous stone tablet, of which the very top seemed to be removable.

Mighty and Charmy walked over to the tablet and pushed with all their…well, might but alas, no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't budge the thing by even an inch. Mighty leaned on the tablet, panting heavily from all the work, when he noticed that there was text written on the lid. He leaned forward to get a better read of this and found that it read as such:

_A lunar orb in a pitch-black galaxy,_

_Combined with a spiteful angel's litany,_

_Shall unlock the secrets hidden within,_

_All of which shall be at your whim_

And below the inscription were two holes; one shaped like half an orb and the other being extremely thin, as if a disc was meant to be inserted into it. Mighty scratched his head, completely bamboozled, as he asked himself _"What the hell's this about?"_

"_Maybe we're supposed to find stuff to put in." _Charmy suggested, as Mighty turned his head to look at him, _"Well, we've already got a Resident Evil thing going on; corridors into corridors, horrifying things and Albert Wesker's our leader. May as well have adventure game puzzles on top of all that."_

"_Vector isn't that smart, at least I don't think so," _Mighty pointed out, scratching his chin in thought, _"But other than that, you've got a point…problem is, what are we supposed to put in? And where do we find them?"_

And suddenly, as if the writer pulled out a cheap contrivance out of the endless depths of his anus, a calm, familiar but very tired sounding voice called out from above _"Is…is anyone down there?" _Upon hearing this, Mighty and Charmy ran from the tablet up the spiralling stairs to find Espio, leaning on the wall next to the bookcase entrance.

However, something was wrong; Espio was breathing heavily and was clutching the right side of his lower torso, with his normally clear white glove dyed a medium shade of red. Mighty's eyes widened out slightly at this sight as he leaned forward, nervously asking _"Espio…are you alright?"_

The chameleon removed his hand to push against the wall as he turned to his two comrades, revealing a small white strip wrapped around his lower torso, and in particular, a red blotch on his right side. He smiled bitter sweetly as he explained in between deep breaths _"Bullet…grazed my side…Don't worry…it's not as bad as…it looks…I've had worse…"_

Mighty looked at the injury and noticed that it was still dripping blood, upon which he rushed over to the reptilian detective and

placed his arm over him, saying _"I don't care; you have to lie down. Will that work?" _glancing over at the small seat in front of the night-black piano. Espio wearily nodded and so, Mighty began slowly walked him over to the leather seat, with Charmy hovering behind them with his hands out, ready to catch Espio if he fell suddenly fell back.

After about a minute or so, the three Mobians reached the seat and Mighty gently lowered Espio onto the seat. The chameleon leaned backwards until his back and head were safely lying on the leather. Espio gave out a weak chuckle, saying _"It's…not the best…but it'll do…"_

"_Alright," _Mighty answered back, as his hands started shaking and his breath quickening all of a sudden, _"But tell me, what the hell happened when you followed Vector?"_

"_Sorry," _Espio tiredly replied while he reached his non bloody hand into his leg pocket, _"But I'm…a bit tired…to talk right now…For the moment…however…" _pulling out the camcorder last seen in Vector's hands and a small CD, placing it on the piano keys next to him, _"Check these…over…they might…help with…what's going on…See ya in a minute…" _and with that, his eyes closed and his head collapsed onto the leather.

Seconds passed in dead silence until Mighty sat down on the floor, pulling his knees and arms close to his head, his gaze directed at the aged, wooden floor below him. He couldn't believe what had just happened; his best friend had gotten shot and maybe even died. And he couldn't do a thing about it. Where he sat, he muttered in a mantra _"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…"_

"_Mighty?" _Charmy worriedly asked. Mighty tilted his head upwards and saw the bee, for the first time since he'd met him, actually standing on the ground in front of him with a very confused and scared expression. That was when Mighty realized something.

He wasn't alone anymore; he couldn't just curl up in a ball and break down whenever something really bad happened. Not anymore. Not when someone, especially a kid, was just as lost and terrified. He had to keep strong, if not for himself, then at least for someone else.

He took a deep breath and uncurled his body, leaning forward as he told Charmy _"Don't worry, buddy. I'll be alright but for now, we gotta check out what Espio found." _The two glanced over at the unconscious detective lying on the piano seat as Mighty assured _"And don't worry about Espio; he'll be okay…I hope."_

And with that, he stood up and glanced at what Espio had taken out; the camcorder looked slightly more dented than before and had a very small splatter of blood on the side. The more curious case, however, was the CD. It seemed to be one of those blank discs you could buy at any electronics store, the only difference being that on the bottom of the front side was written in marker _"Zankoku na Tenshi no These."_

The armadillo raised his eyebrow in confusion as he wondered what this had to with anything. _"I know Espio was a bit of an otaku," _he thought, _"but even for him, this is pretty strange." _He placed the disc on his pocket, deciding that it would make sense later, and focused on the camcorder.

He flipped open the little screen on the side and saw a menu of the most recent recordings on the device:

_July 18__th__, 11:03pm - Going to strip club for first time (TELL NO-ONE!)_

_July 18__th__, 11:28pm - So, that's what they look like…;)_

_July 19__th__, 2:03pm - New Chao in Space prequel showing (HINT: It sux!)_

_July 22__nd__, 8:55pm - Checking out the haunted house on Wesker Hill_

That's the one they were looking for! Mighty highlighted the bottom recording and hit the pay button. The screen changed to a flickering recording of the events that occurred the night before. The first few minutes consisted of Ken, the camcorder's owner, gushing about going to the house and finding what all the fuss was about. And it essentially dragged on as such to the point were Charmy was beginning to fall asleep from boredom when suddenly, it happened…

_July 22__nd__, 9:06pm_

_Mason Mansion Entrance_

Through the damaged perspective of the camera, the front door burst open and flew about ten feet away, revealing a sight that caused the camera to wildly shake within Ken's hands. At the very entrance into the mansion stood an unholy apparition; a decrepit looking shadow of a human being with dead grey skin, tattered clothes and most notably, a lack of a right arm and the left side of its head, leaving only bloody guts dangling out from that missing side.

This monstrous thing stumbled slowly towards the camera, smiling a horrifying half-smile that revealed sharp teeth as it moaned a terrifying sound that shook the two to their very core. The being reached out his left hand, scarred, bruised and bleeding all over, towards the camera screen as it continued moaning.

However, it was unable to make any further contact as the camera suddenly flew through the air and landed on the ground with a hard thud, still aimed at the entrance as the sounds of two teenagers screaming faded into the distance. The disturbing creature stood at the very edge of the entrance as it looked on, smiling in delight as its moans soon turned into a horrifying laugh that grew louder and louder, echoing throughout the dark night skies.

Suddenly, the creature began flickering in and out of existence until it vanished completely, collapsing into blue lines that faded into nothingness. A strange figure clad in a fedora and a long trench-coat walked out from the mansion when two large words, saying _**"BATTERY LOW!"**_, appeared on the screen, after which the screen went blank.

_July 23__rd__, 11:01am_

_Piano Room, Mason Mansion_

Mighty shook the camcorder as he said _"Crap! The battery's dead!" _before he gave up and placed the camera back on the piano keys, leaning back as he continued _"Well, at least we know what happened…sort of."_

"_Sort of?!" _Charmy asked in sheer confusion, _"The zombie kept flickerin' like our TV and Van Helsing popped out of nowhere! If the battery hadn't died, we might've been able to find out what happened!"_

"_Fair point," _Mighty admitted, groaning irritably at the situation, _"All we can do now is just wait for Espio to wake up. Maybe then, things'll start making sense." _He looked at the K.O'ed detective lying down and instinctively held onto the blooded hand with one of his own as he whispered to himself _"Espio…don't die."_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 13/Jun/2013_

_(Well, I'm a little late but hey, at least I got it done in a close enough time. Anyways, things did get a little spookier this time around, a little bit more than I originally planned to as well. I'm aware that the mood-shift is a little overdramatic but believe me, it was originally much worse._

_Espio's injury was going to be much more harmful and the overall tone was going to be quite dark but I realized that the whiplash in mood and tone might've been too much so I scaled it back to a more reasonable level._

_On another note, to BinaryHedgehog's review of Chapter 25, that plot error you mentioned was intended but I couldn't say so since I can't reply to your reviews for…some reason. Damn the strange inconsistencies of !_

_And as usual, tell me what you thought of this chapter, this episode so far and if I can make any improvements to my writing style. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	27. 05 Not-So Ghostbusters! - 4 of 6

When Espio opened his eyes, he saw a strange sight. A pitch-black void; one that was void of any life and consisted solely of an alienating, uncaring darkness. At the same time, the chameleon felt a unfamiliar feeling. Weightlessness. It was if every bone in his body was broken, seeing as no matter how much he willed to move any part of his body, it just wouldn't move. It was if he was floating in the air and couldn't do anything about it. It was if he didn't exist at all.

"_So…" _he thought to himself, as his body drifted through the silent black, _"Is this…what death is like?" _A bittersweet smile formed on his muzzle as he continued to ponder _"It's certainly not as bad as people think…but, if I really am dead…where is everyone?"_

Instantly, a blinding flash of light engulfed the darkness and Espio, who closed his eyes, shielding them from the glare. Shortly after, the chameleon felt as if he was able to move himself once more. He opened his eyes and found himself standing amongst a field of pale green grass that seemed to stretch on endlessly in the grey misty fog. He looked to his left and saw three gravestones, one further apart from the other two.

This one was the first to gauge the chameleon's interest; he glanced at the gravestone with a feeling of regret and remorse. The top half of the inscription was impossible to read but the bottom half read out as clear as day: _2992-3011. Beloved comrade, partner and sister. _An image flashed through Espio's mind at that moment.

An enormous stone clock with the hands spinning around endlessly until they began to slow down. After a very short while, they stopped completely, with the big hand landing on _V_ and the smaller one on _II. 2:25pm. _The significance of that time struck Espio with all the force of a monorail train as voices echoed through his mind.

"_How could you just let her die like that?!"_

"_I…I didn't mean to-"_

"_Well, ya know what?! You still did! I can't believe I thought I could trust you to take care of her!"_

"_But…"_

"_No more buts! I've had it with you three! I'm outta here!"_

"_Esp…it's okay. It wasn't your fault…"_

"…_It's not okay, Vector…she's gone…Please, just leave me alone…"_

The reptilian detective opened his moist eyes and turned away from this gravestone. He looked towards the other two graves in a gaze of remembrance and sorrow. As with before, the top half was rubbed out but the bottom could be clearly read. The inscription on the left grave was _2966-3006. Beloved husband, brother, detective and parent. _While the one on the right read out _2970-3006. Beloved wife, detective and parent._

Once more, a mental image appeared in Espio's mind of a giant revolver aimed at two chameleons much like him, though they were too far away for him to make out much more than that. A somewhat familiar voice spoke out _"I'm sorry it had to come to this. But, you didn't live up to your end of the bargain so unfortunately, this is goodbye." _The trigger pulled inwards and a powerful shot rang out with a white flash that enveloped everything in it, blinding Espio once more.

Opening his eyes, he found himself back once more at the graves. Not wanting anymore of this, he turned away from the tombstones and slowly walked away as the ground beneath him began to tremble. After several seconds, a large hole and a small slab of stone behind the hole suddenly appeared in front of the chameleon's feet. Somewhat hesitant, he leaned forward slightly to glance into the hole, which seemed to go on forever into a pit of blackness.

Suddenly, he felt a strange metallic object pushing against the back of his head. He gasped softly and eyes widened out slightly as one of the voices from before said coldly, yet angrily _"Finally…I get to do you in. I've been looking forward to this for so long. To steal your 'little' quirk, sayonara…Espio." _Espio heard a small click followed by a loud bang and despite the lack of any pain, the force was strong enough to push him forward into the hole. He caught a quick glimpse of the stone slab before he tumbled down into darkness; it said _Espio the Chameleon: 2993-3014? Beloved…to no__-one._

As the reptilian detective descended through the virtually endless pit, he tried to scream for help but found that his voice had been lost, somehow. After what felt like an eternity, he crashed onto a cold, flat floor. He noticed the small circle of light around him and looked upwards to find a small white speck thousands of feet above him. Despite the immense pain surging through his lying body from the fall, he somehow managed to raise his hand upwards to the light as he silently asked _"Please…help me."_

However, the light slowly dimmed until it became part of the constant blackness surrounding the chameleon. Trembling hopelessly, he lowered his arm back down onto the floor as he closed his eyes, feeling a wet stream fall down his cheek. After an unknown period of time, he heard something unusual; the sound of ocean waves crashing against a cliff. Curious yet confused, the purple Mobian opened his eyes to find himself on a bright green meadow overlooking a sky blue ocean sea as the sun warmly shined down on him. He noticed that the meadow seemed to stretch onwards to a thin edge of a cliff, which he was very close to.

A warm, motherly voice echoed through his mind _"What do you wish for, Espio?" _He slowly began to walk towards the edge of the cliff, with a feeling of hesitation and uncertainty. _"Do you wish for the pain to go away?" _the voice from before softly asked the chameleon, who walked slightly faster and more confidently. Finally, he reached the very edge of the cliff and stared out towards the endless blue sea. He looked down at the rocks that were scattered across the edge of the cliff-side far below and then at the clear sky.

The voice asked one final time _"Do you wish to return to nothing?"_

Suddenly, a black mist appeared from the sky and swallowed up everything except Espio, leaving him floating in a void of darkness once more. As well as weightlessness, the chameleon felt a strange falling sensation. It seemed as if he was slowly fading away into nothingness. Almost instinctively, he willed himself to move some part of his body and so, he reached his right hand, still soaked with blood, up into the air. As he fell further into the black mist, a light suddenly appeared and a tanned arm stretched out from it to grab the chameleon's blood-stained hand.

After a short period of inactivity, his bloody hand tightened its grip on the arm, which began to pull upwards into the light, as Espio answered _"No…not yet. I still have something to do…" _At that moment, the light spread outwards and covered everything in its path as the chameleon slowly closed his eyes.

_July 23__rd__, Time: ?_

_Unknown Room, Mason Mansion_

Espio's eyes opened suddenly as he gasped, startled and softly. He felt an uncomfortable, flat feeling on his back as he stared up towards a dull, wooden ceiling. He pushed him arms against the ground and rose his torso up from the floor. He observed his surroundings and saw only a grand black piano and a small opening next to a bookcase that descended downwards.

It must've been the piano room he fainted in earlier, though Mighty and Charmy were nowhere to be seen. The chameleon looked down and saw a pale white sheer had been placed over his body. He caught the blank sheet and tossed it away from his legs as he stood up. Strangely, he felt no pain from standing up and checked out his lower torso for his wound. It was still red but it was not longer bleeding.

Espio looked up from the wound and walked over towards the door when he noticed two small objects on the piano. The first was a slightly damp cloth covered in blood and the second was a small bundle of clean white gloves, though they didn't have the spiked wrists or soft padding that Espio's did. He looked down at his hands and realized that they were completely bare. So, he walked over to the piano and unfolded the gloves as he put his hands through them. They were a little loose, but they'd get the job done.

After this, he walked towards the door and opened it, leaving the room as he walked down the old hallway back to the study. There might be nobody there but it's worth trying, at least. As the chameleon passed through the corridor, his mind went back to that strange dream he just had. _"Just what the hell was that about?" _he thought as he covered his mouth with his chin in thought, _"Do I really want to…? No, it can't be…I've just been watching too many weird shows lately…right?"_

"_Even so," _he mentally told himself, _"It's still worth thinking about…especially what was written on…'my' gravestone." _slightly trembling at what had been written on his apparent grave. By the time he came to this conclusion, he'd realized that he had wandered back into the hexagon-shaped study from before. The fireplace was still burning with life and the glass ceiling up high revealed a sun brightly shining from a clear day sky.

Walking over towards the red cushiony chairs, Espio noticed that Mighty was leaning on the fireplace, staring at the ground with a distressed expression on his face and Charmy was sitting on one of the chairs, having fallen asleep again. Hearing footsteps, the armadillo raised his head to find the source and upon seeing Espio, his solemn frown formed into a large smile as he exclaimed _"Espio!" _He ran over to the chameleon and wrapped his arms around him, giving him the best hug he could give anyone.

Charmy slowly woke up from the sudden shout and his eyes widened out in joy when he saw Espio, after which he quickly flew up from the chair and over to the reptilian detective, tightly hugging him. Cheerfully laughing, Mighty said _"Thank God…you're alright! I was actually thinking that you might've…" _as a wet feeling formed in the armadillo's eyes.

Putting on a confident smirk, Espio coolly replied _"Well, I told you I'd see you in a minute, didn't I?"_ while keeping his arms by his sides, strangely enough.

Mighty chuckled softly at this as he rubbed his eyes before looking at the chameleon to say _"Yeah, but still…at least you're okay." _At this point, Charmy was stopped hugging Espio and had backed off slightly as he noticed that Mighty seemed to be hugging the reptilian detective for an unusually long time. After a second or two, something clicked in the young bee's brain and he began giggling like a mad fool at the sight.

The two older detectives looked at the hysterical detective in complete confusion for several seconds until Espio realized what Charmy might've been laughing at. Looking downwards to notice that Mighty was still hugging him, the violet ninja-detective's muzzle turned a very soft shade of red as he irritably asked _"Do you mind letting me go?"_

Mighty raised an eyebrow in confusion before he realized what he was doing. He promptly removed his arms from the chameleon and quickly shoved them into his pockets, hastily replying _"Sorry…" _as a nervous smile formed on his tomato-red muzzle.

"…_Anyways," _Espio curiously asked as he stared over at the fireplace for a few seconds, _"did you check out the items I gave you two earlier?" _He glanced back over to the armadillo and noticed that, oddly, he wasn't wearing any gloves on his hands. He looked back up at Mighty's face and noted _"And would you mind telling me what happened to your gloves?"_

"_Well, you're wearing them," _The shelled Mobian replied as he pointed towards the slightly loose gloves in Espio's hands, _"I figured you might've wanted to wear something a little less…bloody when you woke up. Don't worry, your old ones are in my pocket if you wanna give 'em a clean when we get out of here." _as he patted his left leg pocket to prove his point.

Espio nodded in appreciation as Charmy answered his first question with _"We took a look at the camcorder but it went out after a few minutes. Just before it cut out, this guy in a trench-coat and a fedora showed up, kinda like a furry Van Helsing, but we couldn't really tell who it was." _as the young bee scratched his chin in thought.

"_And the disc I handed out?" _The chameleon further inquired. Mighty dug his hand into one of leg pockets and pulled out the disc in question, that had written out in black marker _"Zankoku na Tenshi no These." _and a small red splattering next to the words.

He handed the disc over to Espio as he said _"I wasn't sure what this was about but knowing you, I figured it was something important so…I took care of it. Mind me asking what's up with the red splat on it, by the way?" _The ninja detective took the disc from Mighty and placed it into one of his leg pockets as he nodded in appreciation once more.

"_I'll get to that in a minute but just out of curiosity, where's the camcorder?" _He replied, to which Charmy thumbed towards a small table next to the fireplace. The chameleon walked over to the table and saw the camcorder lying on it as a cable extended out from it towards a small socket in the wall. A knowing smirk appeared on his muzzle as he confidently stated _"Well, this certainly isn't surprising, given the state of this house."_

Both Charmy and Mighty raised an invisible eyebrow in curiosity at that statement as Mighty asked _"Exactly what do you mean by that? Just what did happen when we split up?"_

Folding his arms as he walked towards the fireplace, Espio replied _"A lot of things, Mighty. A lot of things." _He leaned on the wall as he continued _"After we split up, I caught up with Vector, still inspecting the camcorder as he mumbled something about things getting pretty strange…"_

_July 23__rd__, 10:37am_

_Mason Mansion, Wesker Hill_

"_I'm tellin' ya, Espio!" _Vector said out loud in his usual Brooklyn spiel,_ "This case is gettin' weirder than about half your tentacle collection!" _as he walked down yet another endless hallway, still fiddling about with the camcorder in the way a five-year-old would with an AK-47.

Following just behind him, Espio irritably pointed out _"Well, we haven't seen any 50ft tall naked marshmallow women, young kids with psychic powers or peoples' minds getting hacked into so clearly," _with a sarcastic smile on his face, _"things have yet to get 'that' weird. Anyways, have you found anything on the camcorder?"_

"_Nope!" _The eldest detective eagerly and loudly replied, much to Espio's displeasure, both in a hearing sense and a detective sense. The two reptiles walked down the hallway, taking many twists and turns that seemed to go on for miles. All this time, Vector focused on the camcorder with such intensity that he failed to realize that he was about to walk into a very wide door, which he promptly did.

Crashing into the wooden entrance with a rough force, the camcorder flew out of his hands into Espio's with an expertly timed catch. Vector stepped back from the door and shook off the disorientation going through his head before he realized what had happened to the electronic device. He gave Espio a distressed, wide-eyed glare as the chameleon said _"Well, you've had the thing long enough without doing anything useful. For now however, we better check out this room." _placing the camcorder into one of his leg pockets.

And with that, he grabbed the oddly new-looking handle and pulled it down, opening the wide door to reveal a massive room filled with enormous bookshelves stretching high up to the ceiling as the sun shone through a huge stain glass window, painting the floor in a dozen or so colours. Taking a second to marvel at this sight, Espio turned to Vector and sternly said _"Alright, I'll take the left side of the room and you'll take the right side. Try to look for anything that can clue us in as to what's going on, got it?"_

"_Yeesh, fine," _Vector wearily replied as he walked off towards the bookcases on the right side of the room, _"I thought I was da one bossin' everyone around." _Slightly shaking his head, Espio started off with the first bookcase closest to the wall and inspected the contents in thorough detail as he scanned for any possible clues to help solve this rather bizarre mystery. As he cleared more and more shelves, he began to notice something very odd.

Normally, bookshelves in haunted mansions were filled to the brim with books based on mostly useless nonsense; atlases, history books, charters, S&M guides, stuff like that. But the bookshelves Espio was inspecting contained books of an altogether different nature. The sides had incredibly colourful illustrations and big numbers indicating the latest volume; several lines lasting possibly hundreds of volumes filled up entire bookcases; and most bizarrely of all, they actually looked like they were genuinely interesting things to read, from Espio's perspective, at least.

A strange suspicion had crept into the chameleon's mind a while back, as if he was checking through his own shelves back at the HQ, and the more books he checked through, the more the suspicion became a possible truth. Reaching the end of about the tenth bookcase, he couldn't take the suspense any longer and pulled out a large book at random. The cover of the book was a foreboding illustration of a young boy and the face of a gigantic, odd-looking robot with words written in a strange language plastered all over the place. This confirmed Espio's creeping suspicion: the bookshelves he'd inspected had been filled to the brim…with manga volumes.

The reptilian detective held the manga volume he'd pulled out for a number of seconds when he noticed a strange thing sticking out from inside the book. He grabbed onto the thing and pulled it out, revealing a small plastic slip containing a CD and a small piece of paper. Placing the volume back into the bookshelf, he opened up the slip and took out the CD and piece of paper. Upon inspecting the disc, he found that there were actually words written in marker on the front side, which were _"Zankoku na Tenshi no These."_

Though the title sounded completely foreign to him, Espio knew enough from watching subbed anime to know that the words translated into _"A Cruel Angel's Thesis"_ or something of that sort.What this was doing hidden in a manga volume in the middle of an enormous library was currently beyond him but he figured the small paper would explain things. He put the disc back into the slip as he read the contents of the note.

_To whoever finds this note,_

_There are two special items hidden within the depths of this mansion. The disc found with this note is the first item, whereas the second is a relic from the stars above, now cursed to hover below them._

_If you can figure it out and collect the other item, you shall discover a magnificent treasure beyond your wildest dreams hidden deep underground._

_Best of luck, Harry Mason._

The contents of the note were utterly baffling, to say the least. It didn't exactly explain much, aside from the fact that something special was hidden in the house somewhere. For now, Espio couldn't really do much about it until he found out more clues so he placed the note back into the slip, putting said slip into his pocket when Vector suddenly yelled out _"Hey Espio, have ya found anythin' useful yet?"_

Espio turned his head towards the direction the crocodile's yell came from and lied _"Not yet. How 'bout you?" _He couldn't place his finger on it but something about Vector seemed very off and until he figured out what it was, he intended to keep anything he found to himself. He was about to walk towards Vector when he noticed a small desk nearby with a medium sized book on it.

As Vector's voice shouted back _"Not a thing! All I've found is just a big bunch of tentacle DVDs over here! I swear, this guy's worse than you!", _the chameleon walked to the desk and opened up the book, noticing that the book was opened at the very last page. Inspecting the final page, it looked to be a diary entry from years ago, given the ink seemed to be quite faded. The contents of this entry read out as such:

_June 11__th__, 3005_

_Well, wouldn't you know it? Seems that I forgot to pay for the bills for the umpteenth time and so, I've gotten a letter from the government to say I'm being evicted and all of my items are being repossessed. I've spent too much time paying for and building up a collection to let anyone take it back._

_If there's anything that'll convince them to leave the place be, it'll be making it look as haunted as possible. At least I know enough people to make this easy to do within a few hours. And just for fun, I'll even leave a special surprise for whoever's brave/sane enough to actually go in here._

_May as well go now, it's finished now and they'll be here in a few hours to take everything back. I'll be off then; while I'm at it, I better take a few of those…special books for the road. Don't want to keep myself too lonely._

_Sayonara bye-bye, Harry Mason._

Finishing off the final words of the diary entry, Espio slowly closed the book as he tried to figure out exactly what the hell was going on. From the sound of it, it seemed the mansion wasn't actually haunted at all; it just looked haunted. But in that case, how do you explain the floating skull head, people sinking through the floor, that ethereal knight stumbling through the halls? Suddenly, the reptilian ninja's contemplation was shattered with that familiar irritating voice yelling _"Hey, Espio! Where the hell are ya?"_

Rolling his eyes disdainfully, Espio walked back the way he came and found Vector standing in front of the stain-glass window, in an area that was surprisingly vacant of any bookcases or desks compared to the rest of the room. Tapping his fingers on a small guard rail in front of the multi-coloured glass, Vector looked at the newly arrived detective and asked _"Ya sure ya didn't find anythin' interestin' in your search?"_

"_Yes, I'm very sure," _Espio calmly replied as he walked to the guard rail and leaned on it, _"Why are so curious as to whether or not I've found anything?" _

"_Cuz it could be important to solvin' da case!" _Vector replied with a hint of nervousness in his obnoxious voice.

Espio stared at the crocodile in silent faux-confusion for several seconds until he said in the most possible dead-pan manner _"…Vector, we're in a library of the King of Otakus. There's nothing but manga volumes and anime DVDs throughout the entire room. Exactly how could there be anything vital in here?"_

The elder detective stopped tapping his fingers on the guard rail as he thought of an answer. His eyes wandered around the room when he noticed a slight bump from one of Espio's leg pockets. A small grin appeared on his enormous jaw as he said _"Well, given that there bump on your leg, I'm guessin' you found somethin' vital…didn't ya?"_

Instinctively placing a hand over the bump, Espio calmly lied _"It's just the camcorder you gave me. And don't worry, I didn't look at it in case you didn't want me stealing your glory or something equally nonsensical. But I'll say once more, I didn't find anything in this room."_

"_Fine!" _Vector groaned irritably, _"But can I at least get da camera back?" _offering his hand outwards to the chameleon. The purple ninja gave a very suspicious glare towards the crocodile for several seconds until he continued _"…And don't worry, I think I've figured how to use it now." _as his mouth formed into a smile that was supposed to look honest, but it gave off the strange indication that he was lying through his teeth.

Espio shrugged and inserted his hand into the bumpy pocket and took out the camcorder. However, he pulled it out a little too fast as the slip containing the disc and the note from earlier was pulled out as well. Upon seeing this, Vector's eyes lit up in surprise and anger as he exclaimed _"I knew you were hiding something else, you rotten bastard!" _He rushed over to Espio and delivered a short punch that disorientated the chameleon long enough to grab both the slip and the camcorder before running towards the door.

Staggering in his feet as he rubbed the small bruise on his face, Espio saw Vector taking off for the door and reached into a small cartridge in one of his gloves. He pulled a small kunai before he darted off to the escaping crocodile and threw it in his direction. The kunai flew at an intense speed and began to descend as it hit Vector straight in the back of his shin, causing him to fall onto the ground in pain as the slip and camcorder fell out of his hand.

The violet chameleon finally reached the fallen detective and knelt down on the floor as he picked up the slip and camcorder. For the sake of convenience, he removed the disc from the slip and inserted it, as well as the camcorder, into his pocket before rushing to the door. However, Vector was not out for the count. Still lying on the floor, he reached into a small holster and pulled out a steel revolver. He rose the upper part of his torso up from the floor and aimed the revolver as he said _"You're not getting away with that, mate!" _He pulled the trigger and with a loud boom, the revolver fired a bullet aimed straight for Espio's spine.

Quickly opening the door, he moved to the left and so, the bullet instead penetrated the side of his torso with a horrifying crunching sound. Feeling the intense pain, the chameleon howled in pain as he limped through the door and closed it behind him. Panting heavily, he leaned on one of the walls as he pulled out another kunai from his cartridge and inserted it into the source of the pain at an angle. Fiddling around in the wound for several tense seconds, he finally felt the bullet and with all his might and a pain-filled scream, he used the kunai to remove it. The blood-soaked bullet flew out from his torso and landed on the floor.

Sighing in relief, he suddenly felt blood start to rush out to the open wound. He knelt down, grunting from the strain his new injury brought, and untied one of the several white strips tied around his shoes. He placed the strip around his lower torso, making sure it was placed squarely over the bleeding hole, and tied it with a firm knot. As he rose up from the ground, still kneeling on the wall, he knew he probably wouldn't be able to heal this by himself and that he had to do something almost unthinkable: rely on someone else to take care of his injury.

He removed himself from the wall and began limping back the way he came, placing his right hand over his wound to stop the blood from leaking out so much. As a warm, wet feeling coated his hand, and small red strips covered the floor, Espio staggered down the hall, hopefully to find someone to rid of this problem. He wasn't sure if he would survive, and honestly it didn't really matter to him, but he would at the very least try.

_July 23__rd__, Time: ?_

_Study, Mason Mansion_

"…_and that's pretty much what happened." _Espio concluded his story as he sighed in relief once more.

Mighty and Charmy stared at him with eyes as wide as buses and jaws smashed right through the wooden floorboards. Scratching his head in complete disbelief, the armadillo asked _"You're serious? That actually happened? Vector really did shoot you? That red splattering on the disc was…blood?" _as his face turned slightly green.

"_And the guy who owns this place is really the King of Otakus?" _Charmy curiously interrupted, as Mighty and Espio fell onto the floor in a loud crash for about the fifth time that day with their feet dangling in the air. Getting up from the floor, Espio irritably nodded to answer the questions before Charmy asked _"But why would Vector do that? I know he's been crabby today but why would he shoot ya?"_

"_Well, I've been wondering that too," _Espio replied, folding his arms as he walked away from the fireplace wall, _"But when he said the word 'mate' and pulled out that gun, I realized something really important. That green obnoxious crocodile leading us that's been with us all day…that isn't Vector!"_

The shelled Mobian's eyes widened out once more as he rose up from the ground, hurriedly asking _"Wait, what?! Vector isn't 'our' Vector?! Then, who the hell is he?" _

As he asked that question, a mysterious figure appeared from a balcony on one of the higher floors. Clad in a fedora and knee-high boots, he pulled out what resembled a sniper rifle and loaded it with tranquilizer bullets. Lying forward on the ground, he aimed the rifle at Espio and kept a steady finger on the trigger. The sunlight from the glass ceiling glinting off the shaft of the rifle, which Espio saw out of the corner of his eye.

He glanced upwards without moving his head and saw that whatever was up there, it was targeted straight for him. The stranger pulled the trigger and fired one of the tranquilizers. With a clever smirk, Espio jumped away from his current spot just as the small darted bullet hit the floor. The fedora-clad person silently swore as he got up and slowly limped away from the balcony, while far below, Mighty and Charmy gasped in shock and surprise at the dodged tranquilizer as the former asked _"What the hell was that?"_

"_Who else? The false Vector! C'mon, we better get him and find out what's going on." _Espio sternly commanded as he ran towards a set of stairs heading towards the upper levels, quickly and eagerly followed by Mighty and Charmy.

**To be concluded…**

_Message from the Author - 29/Jun/2013_

_(My god, I can't even keep a decent schedule up consistently for more than one chapter, can I? Mein gott, I'm so sorry for the two-week delay between this chapter and the last but as usual, my bloody procrastination got in the way, not to mention I got stuck in trying to write certain parts. Well, I certainly hope my struggles ended up making a better chapter than last. It wasn't my intent, in a manner, but I've realized that this chapter, and the episode so far, has been a lot darker than the rest of the series. I'm not sure how that happened but well, I guess it just does._

_I thought I'd try and do a little bit of experimental writing for this chapter, particularly with that dream sequence at the beginning, and see how it turned out. Whether or not it turned out well, I'll leave that up to you to decide. And yes, I've done my first actual mystery since Episode 01, which was six months ago since a week and a half ago…God, I feel old._

_As usual, tell me what your thoughts are on this chapter, the episode in general and if I can make any improvements to my writing style, and I mean more than just my grammar and spelling skills, which I know aren't the best. In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and that you look forward to the fantastical conclusion of Episode 05. Until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000_

_NOTE: Oh my God, I am a fecking moron! The reason I re-uploaded this chapter was because I completely forgot about an important little thing that'll be needed in the next chapter. So, I went back and added in a little paragraph or two to set up for next time so it's not a total ass-pull. Mein gott, how the hell did I forget about the disc?! Anyways, see y'all next time and sorry for even more delays!)_


	28. 05 Not-So Ghostbusters! - 5 of 6

_July 23__rd__, Time: ?_

_2__nd__ Floor Corridors, Mason Mansion_

A haunted mansion. A hidden treasure. A false person. A dodged tranquilizer. And a limping sniper. These five things normally wouldn't go together, unless you were writing the strangest crossover between Scooby-Doo, Indiana Jones, Ghost in the Shell, Far Cry and Metal Gear Solid 3, but in this case, they have been the driving force behind the ultimately strange mystery that is the long-abandoned Mason Mansion. Deep within the halls of the second floor, Mighty, Espio and Charmy ascended from a small staircase from below, searching for an unknown assailant also suspected of impersonating Vector, the self-proclaimed leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency and sexiest reptile in town, the latter of which very debatable.

Unlike the halls on the bottom floor that consisted of linear routes that went on for practically miles, the corridors on this floor were far more holistic and much, much shorter. As he turned his head to look at all the possible routes, the armadillo asked in uncertainty _"Alright, what do we do now?"_

The purple chameleon smirked as he replied _"What else? We go to the floor that fanged sniper was on and then, to put it bluntly, we kick his ass!" _He looked to his right and saw that on the opposite side of that floor was another small set of stairs leading up to the 3rd floor. He pointed two fingers at it and then motioned the fingers forward to give a signal to his two team-mates. Mighty and Charmy nodded in agreement and so, the three detectives began running along the balcony towards the staircase, hoping to find this mysterious sniper and solve this case once and for all.

As they were making their way, a bookcase from one of the walls near the balcony swung to the right and blocked the path in front of them. The three Mobians were startled at the sudden stop but Espio maintained a calm composure as he quickly turned around and ran into one of the corridors, saying _"Fine, we'll go around in that case." _Keeping a hand with two fingers stretched out in front of him as he ran silently through the mazelike halls, the chameleon was prepared for anything to be thrown at him. However, another bookcase turned and blocked the way he'd just came.

Stopping in his tracks, he turned around and realized that Mighty and Charmy hadn't caught up with him in time for the bookcase to fail in its trap. On the other side, the shelled Mobian ran into the bookcase shoulder-front to try push it down. He rammed into it and as he slid down to the ground, he felt something snap in his left shoulder. He groaned in anger through gritted teeth from the pain as he looked at the bookcase, surprised at the fact that not only had he failed to topple the thing, but that he didn't even seem to budge the furniture from its tall, looming stance. He sighed wearily before yelling to Espio on the other side _"Don't worry about us, Espio. Just keep going and we'll find another way around!"_

"_Roger that." _Espio quickly affirmed before turning around and taking off in a quick movement while on the other side, Mighty slowly got up from the ground and hopefully smiled as he thumbed the way they came to Charmy, before the two younger detectives began running that way. Meanwhile, far up above, a purple Mobian that looked like a wolf/weasel hybrid limped down to the 3rd floor, looking over the balcony as he saw the detectives run towards another corridor. A cocky smile appeared on his furry muzzle, revealing a very noticeable overbite consisting of a single massive tooth. His plan was working.

The sniper reached into a small cartridge in his belt and pulled out a small orb-like metallic device. He pressed a circular pattern on the orb, upon which it began beeping and glowing red, and threw it on the wooden steps behind him. As the orb's beeping grew faster and faster, he descended as fast as he could despite the burning pain in his lower leg down the stairs and ducked behind one of the corridors. Just then, the beeping went into a constant flat lining beep as the orb went off in a fiery explosion, taking most of the staircase with it. At the other side of the floor, Mighty and Charmy had stopped in their tracks as they saw the ascending steps get swallowed up in a ball of fire. The armadillo snapped his fingers in frustration as he said _"Crap! How're we gonna get up there now?"_

The young bee gave Mighty a confident thumbs-up as he slowly began to hover upwards, saying _"Don't worry, Mighty! I've got it!" _Flying out towards the centre of the massive room, Charmy flew higher and higher, hoping to find the strange sniper. While back on the 2nd floor, the wolf/weasel hybrid took sight of the ascending insect and loaded his rifle with another tranquilizer bullet. Quickly turning around the corner he was hiding in, he aimed the rifle at the youngest detective and pulled the trigger. The tufted bullet flew from the rifle and within a matter of seconds, it hit the back of Charmy's neck.

The bee began to feel drowsy, as if he was suddenly falling asleep, and the small, quickly-beating wings on his back slowed down more and more until they stopped completely. As he hovered in the air for a number of seconds, it looked like Charmy had completely fallen asleep, as an odd snoring noise could be heard coming from him and he even seemed to have a strange bubble growing out of his nose as he slept. Suddenly, he started to descend to the ground, becoming faster the more he fell.

"_Charmy!" _Mighty worriedly shouted as he leaned on the guard rail and watched the bee fall even faster with a distressed expression on his face. In his descent, Charmy spun around in a very small circle until he landed face first onto one of the soft leather chairs and bounced from that onto the floor, sleeping on his back. The shelled detective sighed in relief and then turned his head to where the shot had come from, noticing a strange figure turning round the corner. A determined glare appeared in his eyes as he quickly turned around and ran into one of the open corridors.

Meanwhile, the sniper expertly snuck through the halls, keeping his back to the wall as he glanced around every corner, making sure not to put any more pressure on his bandaged leg, given the sore state it was currently in. On the next wall, he hugged the wall with his back, with his rifle at the ready, and peeked around the corner. He found Mighty walking down one hall, coming closer and closer towards him. He wasn't going to let himself get beaten that easily so he pulled out a small remote from one of his leg pockets. The remote had several buttons on it but in particular, there was a large red button in the centre of the remote. Hearing footsteps coming in his general direction, he didn't really have any other option so he quickly pressed the crimson button.

Suddenly, a large metallic plate covered the glass ceiling high above and all the lights went out, bathing the entire house in darkness and startling both Mighty and Espio. The armadillo chose to keep it safe and inched himself up to the nearest wall, moving slowly along it in the blackness, while the chameleon decided to keep moving but at a slower pace until his eyesight grew adjusted to the pitch-black world around him. Dipping his hand into one of the compartments of his belt, the fanged sniper pulled out a small visor placed in front of his eyes.

He pressed a button on the side of the visor and instantly, the environment around him was coloured a shade of blue, making it much easier for him to see where he was going. He moved a small dial on the unusual device to detect a specific kind of organic material: blood from outside the body. He moved from his spot and ran through the corridors as quietly as he could. Soon, he hugged up against a wall once more as he surveyed his surroundings for any readings. He found that in an adjacent corridor, there was a strange red line moving around, indicating another person, but what caught his attention the most was the small smattering of blood on the lower torso area of this person.

Placing the visor back into his pocket, an evil grin appeared on his furry muzzle as he loaded his rifle with another tranquilizer bullet. Taking a deep breath to get his concentration right, he quickly moved from the wall and aimed the firearm at the mysterious person. He pulled the trigger and with a magnificent bang, the tranquilizer fired out of the gun towards the other person, whizzing towards them at an incredible speed. Yet, instead of a satisfying noise of the dart going into the target's skin and the slumping of an unconscious body, the sniper heard a small _Dink! _noise and shortly after, what sounded like a pin dropping on the floor.

Silently mouthing something akin to _"What the hell?"_, the fedora-wearing wolf-weasel pressed a small button on the side of his steel weapon, activating a small spotlight that happened to reveal a tranquilizer with a dented tip lying on the floor. Next to the failed shot, he noticed a certain red shell glinting off from the light as said shell started to turn in his direction. A familiar face of an armadillo appeared out of the darkness with a confused expression on his face, an expression which then turned to anger upon noticing the rifle-bearer in front of him.

Mighty turned around completely and stood tall and determined in front of the hunter. Clenching his fists in anger, the shelled Mobian sternly said _"Whoever you are, this one's for Charmy!" _before walking slowly towards the sniper. Trembling in fear, the sniper dropped the rifle and his right hand felt into a backside cartridge on his belt, fumbling around to find something, anything, to stop him from getting another busted cheek. The armadillo broke out into a run with his fist hoisted high into the air, ready for action, as the sniper finally found something: his final tranquilizer. He didn't want to waste it, but he didn't really have much other choice in the matter.

A small smirk appeared on his furry muzzle as he gripped onto the tranquilizer and slowly pulled it out, holding it behind his back. Just then, Mighty lunged outwards with a deadly punch and as fast as he could, the wolf-weasel quickly ducked under it, falling to the floor as he passed by one of the armadillo's legs. Finding the perfect opportunity, the purple hunter raised the dart up high and with all his might, he shoved it deep into the armadillo's skin, just as he fell face first onto the floor.

Still lunged outwards, Mighty's eyes widened out and he gasped in shock from the pain. As whatever was in the dart spread through his system, his eyelids began to close, twitching slightly as he tried to stay awake. However, it was all for naught and so, he fell forward and his body smacked off the floor, completely K. . Ignoring the horrifying pain occurring in his shin, the sniper helped himself up from the floor and sighed in relief as he rubbed his arm against his sweaty forehead. Glancing at the shelled detective's unconscious body, he decided that it was time to get back to work.

He flipped the armadillo's body over onto its front side as he started to investigate it; while there didn't seem to be any kind of wound on the lower torso, the sniper figured it was probably some kind of glitch in his visor. After all, he wasn't exactly the master of self-made gadgets, at least not at this point, so he decided to just check whatever he could check just in case. Inserting his hands into the other Mobian's leg pockets, he fumbled around to see if there was anything useful in there.

"_Let's see…" _he thought as he inspected any items he found in there, _"Supermarket receipts; no. HQ Key; no…not anymore. Mobuck notes; well, don't mind if I do." _as he put the notes into one of his cartridges with a sly grin on his face before getting back to work. _"Sticky, smelly, crumpled tissues…No…just, no!" _his mental monologue continued as he tossed the tissues into a small nearby bin with a disgusted expression on his face, making a mental note to take a shower and burn his gloves when everything was said and done, _"C'mon, there's gotta be something in here…" _when suddenly, he felt something pretty suspicious.

A confident smile formed as he pulled out the suspicious item, exclaiming _"Ah…ha?" _when he saw exactly what he pulled it. It was a pair of slightly dirty gloves that also happened to be quite drenched in blood. Rolling his eyes in frustration, he threw the gloves into a nearby bin and stood up with an irritated look on his face. He sighed wearily before he walked away from the unconscious armadillo, picking his rifle up from the ground as he did so. As he limped down yet another maze of corridors, the over-bitten sniper took out the visor and raised it up to eye level, pressing the button on the side to activate it once more.

Among the blue see-through hallways, he found yet another red figure, and like before, this one had a bit of blood around the middle, though it was far less pronounced compared to the shelled detective from earlier. Whoever it was, though the sniper had a pretty good idea of the figure's identity, they were quite close so he didn't have to keep relying on the device as much as before. He lowered the eyepiece when suddenly, an enormous bookcase swung in his direction and stopped very roughly, blocking his path and causing several books to topple on top of him.

Making his way of the pile of manga volumes adorned with pictures of young teenage girls with eyes the size of pineapples and breasts that could be more accurately described as water balloons typed to lampposts, the flustered sniper gave a very annoyed glare towards the shelved blockade. _"You know," _he whispered to no-one in particular, _"maybe it wasn't such a great idea to have randomly pressure-sensitive traps like this after all…Wait a minute!" _

His eyes slightly widened out in realization as yet another smug smirk made its presence known through that good ol' overbite of his, softly saying _"If these traps can screw me over, maybe they can do the same to him…" _Lifting the thermo vision visor to eye level, he navigated through the empty corridors with a clever plan in mind. After quickly traversing the hallways he knew quite well, the fuzzy hunter planted his back against another wall and peeked out from the corner as he scanned for the red figure once more.

Much to his delight, he found the crimson streak standing in a small T-shaped corridor that lead to a dead-end, while at the two adjacent hallways were large bookcases, one for each hall, that stretched high up, leaving only a very small gap between the top of the wooden shelves and the ceiling. The sniper's smirk widened out into a devilish toothy grin as he silently exclaimed _"Got ya!"_

* * *

Though he had no idea who designed the house or more to the point, who the hell decided to have simple corridors on the ground floor and then put arguably the most confusing maze of hallways in the land on the second floor, if Espio ever came across this unknown architect, he was going to do utterly unspeakable things to them. And yes, that does include forcing them to watch _all_ of Endless Eight until their eyeballs fall out. He knew that he was supposed to find the staircase to the next floor but he found that to be quite impossible given that he had absolutely no idea where he was going, not to mention that everything being covered in darkness made it even harder to see anything at all.

Despite his eyesight eventually getting adjusted to the pitch-black environment, he still couldn't see a way out of this near endless maze of corridors. Mumbling something under his breath that sounded like _"Damn narrator and his stupid puns…"_, he leaned on a nearby wall and folded his arms as per usual. Weighing up his options, he glanced up towards the ceiling, which only appeared as a faint outline in his currently impaired vision, and wondered to himself _"Well, I'm stuck in a dead-end corridor, I'm completely lost and I may not be able to get out of here alive. All in all, not too bad. Still, what should I do?"_

He directed his look from the ceiling to one of the adjacent corridors and after a few seconds of contemplation, he removed himself from the wall and walked towards the hall. Suddenly, he heard the clunking of an occasional footstep, the slithering of a limp thing getting dragged across the floor and the creaking of floorboards and stopped in his tracks, taking on a defensive position just in case. Shortly after, a loud banging sound came from the corridor he was heading towards, causing him to slightly jump in his feet. Curious, his stance returned his normal as he walked to the adjacent hallway but found his path to be blocked by a very large wooden wall.

"_Not another bookcase…" _Espio bitterly muttered as he rolled his eyes disdainfully. Then suddenly, another bang rang out from the hall opposite the one he was currently in. As a suspicion crept into his mind, the chameleon's eyes widened out as he walked over to the source of the second bang with a sense of hesitation. Wading through the darkness, he found an enormous bookcase blocking the way. His breath began to quicken as the horrifying realisation dawned in his mind: _He was stuck in a small, tight room with no possible chance of escape._

Espio felt his heart beating faster than usual, his right hand started to tremble and his breathing was getting quicker and quicker with each passing second as he backed himself up against a nearby wall. _"No…Oh please…God no!" _the reptilian detective stammered softly as he sank towards the ground to curl up into a small huddle, shaking his head rapidly as if to wake himself out of a horrid nightmare. Because right now, he wouldn't care if he woke up back into his dull, boring life as a detective, if he woke up in a post-apocalyptic world filled with dismembered body parts of giant naked women, or even if he woke up in a horrible self-insert fanfic. Just anything, _anything_, except this.

As his claustrophobia got to him more and more, he was practically hyper-ventilating and shivering as he lay huddled on the ground as he weakly begged _"Please…for God's sake…someone help me…Vector…Charmy…Mighty…Mom…Dad…Anyone, please…get me out of here!" _with his final sentence breaking out into a shout of desperation. Suddenly, a small orb flew over the tight gap between one of the bookcases and the ceiling and landed next to Espio with a small _Dink!_ noise. The distraught chameleon lifted his head from his arms to curiously observe the faint outline of the strange object.

All of a sudden, the orb began making a very peculiar hissing noise as the purple ninja felt the air changing around him. He saw brief traces of smoke in the darkness as he started to feel faint, like he was slowly fading away. Losing any sort of feeling in his body, his eyelids twitched in an attempt to stay awake but it was a vain effort because he soon slumped forward onto the floorboards. Very much reluctantly, his eyes closed as if he was about to fall into a deep sleep, though whether or not it meant he'd wake up from this terrible nightmare was an answer that would have to wait.

_July 23__rd__, Time: ?_

_Unknown Room, Mason Mansion_

Opening his eyes with all the energy of a teenager on their first day back to school, Espio saw that a series of ropes tied around him and when he tried to move his arms and legs, he felt that they were restrained, with his arms stuck around his back and his legs under his tired torso. Slowly tilting his head upwards to observe his surroundings, he found himself to be in the piano room once more, except this time there was a very familiar figure standing at the gap in the bookcase with a torch in his hand, observing the area down below.

Feeling a strange feeling on his back, well…aside from the fact that his arms were tied up as if he was about to take part in an explicit movie based on the sexual escapades of bounty hunters, the chameleon turned his head to the left and found that Mighty and Charmy were also tied up to him, like they were a big bundle of fish caught out in the ocean. It also seemed that given their eyes were still shut and they looked like they weren't moving at all that they were still asleep, especially Mighty who had a big grin on his face and was drooling somewhat as he mumbled some nonsense about getting special treatment in a vital area…

Immensely disturbed, Espio tried to lean away from the aroused armadillo, thought given with current situation, it was much easier said than done. He stopped his squirming when he heard a nasally laugh accompanied by a very familiar Downundian accent _"So, one of you lot finally bothered to wake up from your little ol' nap." _The chameleon looked away from his very pleased comrade and found a familiar purple sniper with a large overbite standing in front of him with a smug look on his face. A very toothy grin creased the wolf-weasel's lips as he bowed mockingly, sarcastically saying _"Well, I'm quite bloody honoured to know that!"_

"_Nice to see you again, Nack," _Espio jokingly replied as he rolled his eyes in derision, _"So, how's life been for you since Mighty punched your lights out and stopped you from getting that 10,000 in Mobucks?" _glancing somewhat at the armadillo currently moaning in his sleep next to him, _"Still having to steal food from the local Chao Garden?"_

'Nack' pulled out a small revolver from one of a small holster on his belt and twirled it around in his finger as he non-chalantly said _"The name's Fang and don't ya dare try and bluff me; I know that you're wonderin' how in the 'ell you three and your 'oh-so-great-and-sexy' dimwit of a leader got beaten by a nobody of a bounty 'unter like me!" _confidently thumbing towards himself with one hand while still fiddling the steel pistol with the other.

Softly shaking his head irritably, the reptilian ninja remarked in the most over-the-top, yet still somehow deadpan, manner _"Yes, of course I was. You must be a great mind-reader to be able to figure that out! Just curious, how long have you been waiting to tell someone of your 'oh-so-genius- plan?"_

"_Oh, about three weeks!" _The Downudian sniper absent-mindedly blurted out before his eyes widened out slightly as he corrected himself _"I mean…eh…shut up! Or I'll blow your brains out!" _demonstrating his point by grabbing the revolver and pointing straight at Espio's horned head.

After a few moments of silent inaction, the chameleon simply shrugged and tiredly said _"Yeah, go ahead. I've got nothing better to do today, anyways…" _which seemed to have some effect on the wolf-weasel as he started breathing heavily and irritably through gritted teeth and his grip on the revolver tightened. Giving a derisive glare at the fuming fanged furry, Espio sighed wearily and acquitted _"Fine, I'll hear your 'great triumph' if it'll stop your little temper tantrum…"_

Fang's grip on the pistol loosened as he fitted it back into his holster and his breathing became normal, well as normal as it could be for someone with an overbite you can stab a man with! His irritated frown morphed into a confident grin as he replied _"Glad ya came 'round to it!" _while Espio rolled his eyes in annoyance, _"Anyways, it all started a month ago during that 'hole Golden Chao incident. Yeah, you royally trumped me in that case but hey, it must say somethin' 'bout you guys when you decide to just leave me lying there K.O'ed. Several cases of kidnapping in one day, attempted murder and even pretendin' to be an old lady; you coulda brought me into the bacon for all that if you weren't thick enough to forget about me!"_

"_Yeah…" _Espio defeatedly admitted with a bittersweet smile on his muzzle, _"That wasn't our brightest moment…"_

"_Still, not that I mind," _Fang cheerfully added, chuckling as he leaned on the black piano and folded his arms, _"Anyhow, with a wounded pride, a broken cheek thanks to your boyfriend over there," _looking at Mighty, who was currently waving his tongue out in the open air, much to Espio's blushing embarrassment, _"and 10 grand in Mobucks down the drain, I wandered the streets wonderin' what the 'ell to do."_

_June 23__rd__, 5:03pm_

_God Knows Which Alley, Emerald Coast_

It was a cold summer's evening. The sun was sinking further and further into the mountains surrounding Emerald Coast City and the streetlights were turned on, illuminating the city streets in a faint shade of white, as a dejected figure walked down one of the many alleyways. Rubbing his red cheek to try and ease the pain of a mighty punch from earlier, Fang passed the several bins lying around and the old ripped poster decorating both sides of the alley walls. This case was his last trump card: something that would've set him for life if he'd gotten the money. And now it was cruelly snatched away from him; the opportunity of a lifetime, unless you know many rich people willing to give out shed-loads of money frequently. Gone. Completely.

As he slumped through the decaying passages absent-mindedly, Fang's monologue from the present continued _**"So I was really stuck, I had no idea what to do about anything. And then, it hit me."**_The sniper in the past found himself walking straight into a large metallic pole and then falling to the floor from the impact. _**"…Literally." **_Lying on the cold concrete pavement, Fang rubbed his now slightly bleeding nose as a very irritated teeth-baring frown formed on his fuzzy muzzle.

The pain in both his nose and his cheek, the disappointment from losing possibly the biggest case in his life and the humiliation from what caused him to lose the case to began with was too much. Fang looked up towards the cloudy evening sky as he screamed in absolute frustration and agony, shouting _**"FOR F&%^'S SAKE! WHEN IN HELL IS ANYTHING GOING TO GO RIGHT FOR ME?!" **_Taking to his feet, the frustrated bounty hunter proceeded to wildly shake the streetlight in front of him as he continued venting _**"STUPID POLE! STUPID CASE! STUPID ARMADILLO! STUPID CHAOTIX! STUPID LIFE! I HATE IT!…I F%$&ING HATE IT ALL!" **_

After about a minute, his grip on the steel pole loosened as he slowly fell to the floor with his head in his hands. He sighed wearily and mumbled _"Dammit…why am I doing this?" _as he sat there on the curb and looked up towards the indifferent orangey sky once more. _**"So yeah," **_Fang's narration went, _**"I wasn't exactly the 'appiest bloke in Mobius at the time. But then, out of nowhere, fate shined its graceful light on me!" **_

The young wolf-weasel was suddenly blinded by an insanely bright light accompanied by several repeated honkings. He covered his eyes as he got up and walked backwards onto the pavement as a large truck carrying tons of fish quickly drove past. The driver of the truck was shouting _"Stay off the curb, you damn knacker!" _as he drove off into the distance, sweeping up a large pile of trash lying on the side of the street. Fang lunged forward and angrily gave the truck the middle finger, though the driver wouldn't be seeing it anytime soon, when a piece of paper flew into his face.

He tore the paper from his face and held it high into the air as he prepared to throw it onto the ground when he caught a glimpse of what the piece was about at the corner of his eye. Hesitating in his frustrated impulse, he took a closer look at the piece, which contained a picture of a large decrepit looking mansion alongside the caption _**"The Mysterious Mason Mansion: Is Wesker Hill's Shining Glory Really Haunted?" **_A grin of confidence and hope creased the sniper's fuzzy muzzle as his present self explained _**"Obviously, you can't just look at this place and think 'Yeah, definitely not 'aunted'. So, I figured there had to be somethin' to the mansion, somethin' that could be very…beneficial to me…"**_

_July 23__rd__, Time: ?_

_Piano Room, Mason Mansion_

"_So, I came over here and spent the next week checking out every room in the house to see what was up." _Fang continued in what has to be the longest, most in-depth explanation for what essentially amounts to the back-story of 95% of Scooby-Doo villians, _"Turns out that the place wasn't haunted at all. It was just a stupid rumor, as usual. But there was something very interesting I found. Down there." _as he nodded his head towards the set of stairs in the bookcase, which Espio looked at in response. _"There's a stone block in there with a lid that can't be moved, not matter how strong you are. And on that unstoppable slab reads a small poem."_

The fanged sniper unfolded his arms, placing his hands in his leg pockets, as he walked around the small, windowless room, and waxed lyrical _"A lunar orb in a pitch-black galaxy, Combined with a spiteful angel__'__s litany, Shall unlock the secrets hidden within, All of which shall be at your whim…that's how the poem goes. And what does it mean? Well, when I scoured the entire house, I found this in the study's fireplace." _demonstrating his point by pulling out a small orb from one of his belt's leather pockets. The orb was painted in a pale shade of blue and was decorated in tiny craters and dust, giving the appearance of a midnight moon.

Espio's eyes widened out upon seeing it as he remembered the contents of the note he'd found back in the library: _"The second item you need to find is a relic from the stars above, now cursed to hover below them." _His mouth opened slightly as he gasped in shock, saying _"So, that's what the note was talking about. The second item was a small moon."_

"_Correctomundo!" _Fang sternly appraised as he held up the lunar orb, gazing at it with a hopeful glint in his eye, _"But what I really wanted to find was the other item. What it meant completely buggered me; I was probably screwed on that front…and then I remembered you." _glancing down at the chameleon with a cheeky grin on his face. _"When it comes to lookin' everywhere, you really do…well, look everywhere. So I decided to play up the 'hole 'aunted 'ouse thing to try get your thick-headed agency's attention." _he continued as he smiled in smug satisfaction.

"_Well, that certainly explains the holographic zombie Charmy mentioned." _The purple reptile admitted as he looked down at the floor in contemplation, _"Not to mention all those swinging bookcases, that organ abruptly cutting off and that so-called 'Mansion Master'; it was all just a convoluted machination to fool everyone, even us. I have to admit, when you've got a goal in mind, you're quite thorough."_

"_Well, a course!" _The fanged Downundian said back as he started tossing the orb up and down the air with his hand, _"At least someone bothers to care; you've no idea how time I spent gettin' everythin' to look convincin'. Problem was, I waited for 'bout what felt like decades for you to show up and I got nothing. I even looked your stupid website too see if you were actually doin' somethin'. Well, until it got hacked altogether."_

Espio chuckled somewhat as he commented _"That's what you get when Vector's put in charge of a website. Speaking of which, exactly what did happen to the green wonder?" _looking back up towards the smirking wolf-weasel.

"_After waitin' too long, I figured I'd just sucker you guys in myself and so," _The bounty hunter replied,_ "I followed Vector 'round this mornin' until I caught him alone and knocked 'im out with a good ol' tranquilizer! Puttin' Don Paolo's teachings to good use, I dressed myself up as that great twat and led his three stooges up to the mansion. I was hopin' you'd get me what I wanted and of course, you did!" _as he pulled a small disc that had _"__Zankoku na Tenshi no These__" _written out on the front in marker.

Espio's eyes popped out in shock and he looked towards his leg pockets as he wondered out loud _"Hold on, how the hell did you get that? I got the thing from Mighty and put in my pocket…and then, you knocked me out." _uttering the last sentence with a tone of defeatism.

"_You didn't think I was thick enough not to check your pockets, did I?"_ Fang faux-innocently asked, putting a deliberately stupid face as he did so, _"Who do ya take me for; Vector?" _as he started laughing spitefully. _"In any case, I've got both items and now I should be able to find the treasure in that tomb below." _he concluded as he started walking down the steps to the dark basement below, _"Thanks for your contribution, and don't worry. You'll get something in return…just don't expect anythin' too great, alright?"_

As the wolf-weasel sniper descended the staircase, all the while still laughing, Espio sighed wearily, mouthing _"This might be actually be over for us…this time, we really are and well and truly f-"_

"_Oh baby, don't stop!" _

Mighty erotically groaned in his sleep as he attempted and failed quite badly to thrust his tied-up hips. The chameleon gave his team-mate a very irritated glare and moaned bitterly at the disturbing sight, taking a mental note to either take a cold shower…or toss his armadillo comrade into the coldest lake in Holoska. Either one would do. Suddenly, an idea formed in his head and he began nudging the shelled Mobian as he said _"Mighty, you've gotta wake up. C'mon, get up." _Despite his several attempts to shoulder bump his comrade, the ebony teenager just wouldn't stop mumbling gibberish about 2 people in 1969 or something equally inane. A morbid frown creased Espio's tanned muzzle as he kept talking _"For God's sake Mighty, get up! You can have your sex dreams later when we're not going to die…GET UP!"_

Hearing a deafening shout in his left antler-ear, Mighty jolted forward, his eyes looking as if they were going to fall out of his eye sockets, and he yelped in shock. Moments later, he looked around him and yawned until he turned his head to Espio, tiredly mumbling _"Hey partner, I just had the most wonderful dream…I think you were in it," _as a mortified expression crept up on Espio's face, _"Anyways…what's up?"_

Groaning irritably, the chameleon replied _"We've been captured by Fang, who built all the traps in the house and the person whose going to get the treasure in the basement if we don't stop him! Now c'mon, help me outta these ropes!" _as he started moving around. Mighty wearily nodded as he pushed his wrists against the edges of the ropes tying them together until they snapped in two. He moved his hands from his back onto the ropes covering his legs and torso and tore them off easily before helping Espio out of his bindings. Standing up as he moved his head around to wake himself up, the chameleon glanced towards the armadillo as he said _"Thank you. Take care of Charmy, alright?"_

He then proceeded to walk towards the opening of the bookcase when Mighty suddenly grabbed his arm and said _"Wait a minute. What do you mean 'take care of Charmy'?…Are you planning on going down there alone?" _The awkward silence answered the shelled detective's question as the tired look on his face became concerned and he worriedly continued _"Look…Espio, are you sure you can take him on? I mean, if he got you before, couldn't it happen again? Heck, you don't even have any weapons to hold him off…wait a minute…" _He let go of the chameleon's arm as he checked his pockets for his chameleon friend's bloody gloves, which he remembered had special cartridges containing kunai. He searched as hard as he could, even noting that he'd somehow lost about 15 Mobucks, but he couldn't find them.

Clenching his fists in self-anger, he looked back over to Espio, who had made his way to the top of the descending stairs. The reptilian ninja stopped walking and without turning to look at Mighty, he sternly replied _"I was at a disadvantage, that's all. It won't happen again. Just un-tie Charmy and if you're still worried, the both of you can come down to help. But if worst comes to worst, take him and get out of here while you still can…is that okay?"_

A second or two of hesitation passed until Mighty sighed wearily and said _"Yeah, it is…but one thing, partner. Take care of yourself down there. I've still got that little surprise for ya, after all!" _Espio turned his head to find the armadillo giving him a cheerful smile and a confident thumbs-up as he knelt down next to the still-napping Charmy and started snapping the ropes.

The chameleon turned and started walking down the stairs as he said to himself _"Don't worry…I will." _With a sense of anticipation and hesitation, he descended the metallic spiralling steps as quietly as he could, turning himself invisible to make sure nobody would suspect him, hoping that at the bottom, he would find not only whatever was in the basement and this 'treasure' Fang was on about, but also the light at the end of the tunnel concerning this case.

_**To be genuinely concluded…**_

_Message from the Author - 12/July/2013_

_(Alright, so this wasn't the actual conclusion I promised. For some odd reason, I have this limit of 20 pages per chapter at the most and I felt that what will become the real finale, along with what I've already done, would've become way too bloody long. As such, I've divided the last chapter into two; I hope y'all are okay with that. At least it means, you shouldn't have to wait too long for the next part…the key word being shouldn't…_

_In any case, tell me your thoughts on this chapter and if I can make any improvements to my writing style, in spelling, grammar or anything else. Again, I'm really sorry for the great delay between chapters but I promise I'll do my best to get the finale out as soon as I can! And if I don't, you can personally come down to my house to beat me senseless! __J__ Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	29. 05 Not-So Ghostbusters! - 6 of 6

_July 23__rd__, Time: God Knows_

_Secret Basement, Mason Mansion_

This was it. As Espio descended the steel spiralling staircase, step by step, to the secret basement down below, he hoped that everything driving the case up to this point would be resolved. The mysterious treasure apparently hidden in a stone block in the basement, Vector's sudden disappearance and his whereabouts, all of it would be cleared up. Right here, right now. The chameleon quietly reached the bottom of the stairs with a sense of anticipation. There, he found Fang standing in front of a large stone block in the middle of the room. The currently invisible detective snuck silently to the other side of the block to see exactly what his former comrade was up to.

Fang smiled confidently as he quoted the poem on the top slab, _"__A lunar orb in a pitch-black galaxy,__"_as he took out a small orb resembling a moon and placed it into a small round hole on the slab. _"__Combined with a spiteful angel__'__s litany,__"_he continued with a slight tone of delight and satisfaction while he took out a disc with the words that translated out as _"A Cruel Angel's Thesis"_ and inserted it into a thin line next to where the moon was placed. Suddenly, the gears and gizmos on the walls started turning, making magnificent noises and unlocking noises, as the stone slab began moving backwards, revealing a bright, wonderful light from inside the box. The ecstatic sniper finished the poem _"__Shall unlock the secrets hidden within, All of which shall be at your whim!__"_

Espio stepped away from the large tomb as the slab hit the floor with a loud bang. Smoke escaped from the opened tomb as a large statue of some sort emerged from the shining pit while the chameleon stood still. As a tear of joy came to his eye, Fang noticed a strange blur in the smoke. Immediately, his joyful expression turned into an angered one as he pulled out his small revolver and pointed it at the blurring, shouting _"__I know you__'__re there, Espio! Show yourself, don__'__t move and keep your hands up!__"_Hearing some kind of annoyed groan, he witnessed Espio appear visible again in the smoke with his hands up in the air. Keeping the pistol aimed at the chameleon, the fanged sniper chuckled devilishly as he triumphantly said _"Sorry but this time, I win."_

The smoke hiding the statue-like object began to dissipate when a familiar nasally voice shouted from above the stairs _"Espio!" _The two purple Mobians glanced at the metallic steps as Mighty and Charmy scurried down them at an alarming speed with utterly horrified looks on their faces, as if someone had forced the poor sods to watch the horribly animated sex scene from the Lawnmower Man. Panting furiously, the petrified looking armadillo bent forwards with his hands on his knees as he looked up at Espio and very nervously stammered _"Es…Espio, t-there's a-a…ghost u-upstairs…it's c-c-coming down, right now…"_

"_The 'ell are you on about?" _Fang irritably asked as he looked back at Espio, keeping his eyes on the ninja detective, _"There aren't any ghosts; they're all just 'olograms. If they was a ghost wandering 'bout the 'ouse, I'd know about it. 'onestly, if this is your excuse to come down and 'elp 'im," _straightening his revolver's aim at his 'hostage' to demonstrate his point, _"You really are the thickest load of fu-" _Suddenly, Charmy started bursting out laughing, rolling on the floor like a mad loon as he pointed towards the stone tomb in front of the three older animals. The three of them looked at the young bee in confusion as the Downundian angrily asked _"Alright, what the 'ell are you playin' at, Charmy?" _He, Mighty and Espio then looked in the direction of the concrete block and then, _it_ happened.

A big smile appeared on Mighty's face as he also started laughing hysterically, falling onto the floor with his legs kicking about in the air, while Espio folded his arms in a very amused fashion, chuckling at the sight. Fang's reaction on the other hand was…not so delighted; his eyes widened out to the size of dinner plates, his jaw practically fell through the floor and in complete and utter disbelief, he dropped his small revolver onto the ground as the reality of the situation hit him.

From the tomb were about five ten-foot tall body pillows decorated with the images of naked young teenage girls with breasts the size of mutant pumpkins, surrounded by several small figurines of similarly endowed women dressed in all kinds of outfits, from pirate whores to sexy ninjas to magic elves and beyond, many, many posters featuring animated women with enormous eyes making out and tons of cosplay outfits dedicated to several fetishes. The embarrassing truth had revealed itself at last: the secret treasure of Mason Mansion, the treasure that Fang had spent all his time working towards, the treasure that nearly killed a few people, was an enormous lolicon collection!

Horrified beyond all comprehensible belief, as his peers laughed their arses off, the humiliated wolf/weasel fell to his knees and pounded the floor in silent frustration. A bitter frown formed on his fuzzy muzzle as he gazed at the cold concrete floor, noticing the steel pistol nearby. As strange metallic sounds started to ring out in the background, he glanced at the detectives, still laughing at the surprise, and then back at the small firearm as he picked it up and turned towards Espio, pointing the revolver at the chameleon, whose amused chuckling came to an end when he noticed this. Shortly after, Mighty and Charmy's eyes widened out and they stopped laughing as Fang angrily said _"That's it! If the treasure's a fluke, then I can at least get one thing out of it!"_

The clanking noises became even more louder while he clicked back the hammer on the back of the barrel as his frown became a bittersweet grin, sarcastically saying _"It was nice knowin' ya, Espio. To steal your little quirk, sayonara…" _Strangely enough, Espio stood still with a shocked expression on his face, though his gaze was not directed at Fang, but something that seemed to be over his shoulder. Confused yet curious, the wolf-weasel looked over his shoulder just as the metallic clanking suddenly stopped, right behind him. His jaw dropped in shock when he saw an ethereal knight looming over him, staring him down with angry demonic orange eyes in a very dark green mist emanating from his open helmet.

Completely, utterly and helplessly stumped, Fang's pupils shrunk to the size of fleas and left eye began to twitch as he offered the armoured ghost a strained smile that looked less like he was pleased to see the steel giant and more like he was about to go absolutely bonkers. The knight's response was to raise its right arm high into the air before ferociously bringing it down to hit the petrified sniper right on the head, causing him to drop the small revolver. Fang froze in place, stiff as a 14-year-old, with a dumbfounded expression on face before he fell right down to the floor, whacking the back of his head off the concrete as his eyelids closed.

Mighty, Espio and Charmy glanced down at the unconscious sniper and then stared in confusion at their medievil saviour standing in front of them. The angry orange eyes suddenly tilted upside down to what resembled cheery looking arches as the knight stepped forward and attempted to speak but ended up sounded incredibly muffled due to his helmet. The three detectives collectively raised an eyebrow at this as the ethereal ghost held a finger up in the air, mumbling something that very vaguely sounded like _"Give me a minute!" _It then placed its hands on the sides of its steel helmet before proceeding to pull upwards with a great force. The armoured knight groaned irritably as it struggled to get the helmet off but then, with a great, loud mumbling that seemed to sound like a shout that failed miserably, it successfully pulled the helmet off.

As the saviour held his removed gear high in the air triumphantly, the three Mobians' eyes widened out, staring in shocked disbelief at the sight. A very familiar looking crocodile lowered the helmet down and held it under his arm as he said _"Damn, that helmet's tight! Oh, and you're welcome!" _smiling very confidently.

An awkward silence lasted for several seconds until Espio asked very slowly _"…Vector…can you explain exactly why…you're wearing a suit of armour?"_ as the look on the chameleon's face grew even more confused.

With his spare hand, Vector scratched the back of his head as he cheerfully replied _"Well ya see, it's a pretty long story." _laughing at the situation at hand when he remembered something all of a sudden, _"And that reminds me; do you know anythin' about a couple a dweebs?"_

"_A couple of dweebs?" _Mighty curiously asked as he placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head.

The armoured detective opened his great, big jaw to answer when suddenly a voice that sounded very much like a white Urkel asked from the steel staircase _"What in the hell is that thing?!" _The reunited detectives looked at the spiralling steps and saw two somewhat familiar people descending it; the first was a glasses-wearing shaggy-haired Overlander wearing camouflaged gear holding a camcorder up to his face and the other was a young man clad in a tracksuit with a darker tan and a crew cut.

As the two teenagers finished walking down the stairs, a bright smile appeared on Mighty's face as he walked towards them and excitedly said _"Toji, Ken! I though you might've died but you're alright!"_

"_Yeah, thanks for the info, Captain Obvious!" _Toji bluntly replied as he glared at the great lolicon collection nearby with a very disturbed look on his face, _"Now…could someone tell me what that…'thing' is supposed to be?"_

"_That," _Espio matter-of-factly replied as he looked towards the strange 'monument', _"is the source behind all of the problems, hauntings and all manner of nonsense that's occurred today. A fabled treasure left behind by the King of Otakus that someone," _glancing pitifully at Fang's unconscious body, _"worked very hard to find…and this was his reward. Rather sad, isn't it?" _Everyone stayed silent at the rather depressing suggestion until the chameleon spoke up _"Anyway, it's done with now. The important thing is asking exactly what happened to you three stooges." _pointing in Toji, Ken and Vector's general direction.

"_Well," _Vector immediately started off, _"me and Charmy were checkin' round the town for some birds this morning, when Charmy had to go to da bathroom. I waited for da little guy when I suddenly got thwacked on da head. After that, I woke up in a basement next to these two dweebs!" _thumbing towards the military otaku and the tanned teen.

An angry frown appeared on Toji's face as he stepped forward, frustratedly remarking _"Will you stop callin' us dweebs? You got captured too and you didn't even bother puttin' up a fight!"_

"_Then who's da guy that just knocked out that little weasel?" _Vector asked as he pointed towards the knocked out sniper. The track-suited teen opened his mouth to talk back but only silence passed through it before Vector continued his story with a small grin of satisfaction forming on his face _"As I was sayin, I woke up and found out from these guys," _thumbing towards Toji and Ken,_ "that I was in some haunted mansion, and that you guys were actually here too. Apparently, there was some kinda floatin' skull head that made these guys sink into the basement so I figured I'd put on this suit…just in case."_

"_Well, that explains why you're dressed up like that," _Mighty commented to no-one in particular as he scratched one of his antler-ears, _"But that still doesn't explain how you ended up here or how that Mansion Master thing said they were only three of us left after Ken and Toji sunk, even though you…well, the fake you, me, Espio and Charmy were still around."_

"_I think I know where to find the answers to that." _Espio suggested with a knowing smirk on his muzzle as he knelt down to the unconscious Mobian and started checking through his leg pockets and the several cartridges on the wolf-weasel's belt until he eventually found two objects; a small business card of some sort and a remote with many buttons on it. The chameleon showed the business card to his peers first; the card had a small of piece of writing that said _**"Bolt Deliveries! For all your 'personal' deliveries!" **_and a phone number listed below. _"Obviously, this is how Fang got you here without too much of a hassle, Vector." _Espio said after a few seconds of silence before he placed the card back into Fang's pocket.

He then held out the remote and pressed a random button that had the text _D-A55_, when suddenly a voice spoke out _**"This is the Mansion Master speaking!" **_Toji immediately jumped into Ken's arms with a terrified look on his face, Vector jumped right out of the suddenly rusty armoured suit and took to hiding behind one of the moe body pillows, Mighty and Charmy stepped back in shock and Espio stood still as the voice changed to a more familiar Downundian drawl _**"…No, that doesn't sound scary enough…Oh! How about…" **_before the voice returned to its original deep, threatening voice _**"I am the Mansion Master and you shall leave my house before I call the cops!…Wait, how would I call the cops? I'm a frigging skeleton head; I don't even have any hands for crying out loud!"**_

The booming voice continued in its odd ramblings until Espio pressed the button again, cutting the voice off completely. Vector slowly crawled away from the huge skimpy schoolgirl pillow and Ken promptly dropped his track suited friend onto the floor as the ninja detective explained _"For anyone who didn't get the hint, or if you're Vector," _as the crocodile gave him a very irritated glare, _"the whole Mansion Master fiasco was a load of pre-recorded voices. That's why he thought there were only three of us left; because he never suspected more people coming along with us."_

"_Then why'd he decide to bring us along if he never expected more people to show up?" _Ken asked as he pressed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Espio kept quiet for a number of seconds as he folded his arms once more until he shrugged and replied in a deadpan manner _"Well, for all his smarts, he did have his stupid moments when he worked for the Chaotix. Guess some things never change, even after two years…" _sighed softly and wearily.

Mighty looked at his chameleon friend in concern when something suddenly came to mind. He stepped forward and asked _"But there's one other thing…me and Espio saw a ghost knight, that looked a lot like what you were wearing Vector," _as he pointed down towards the pile of slightly rusted armour lying on the floor, _"and it passed through the wall too. So wouldn't that mean there's an actual ghost living in the mansion?"_

Toji, Ken and Vector stared at the armadillo in horrified silence for a few seconds before they started screaming at the top of their lungs as they scrambled up the steel staircase and out of the opening in the bookcase high above. The three remaining detectives stared up at the opening as the screaming grew fainter and fainter until Mighty looked at Espio, asking _"Who knew Vector was scared of ghosts?"_

"_I'm still wondering how that huge snout of his actually fit inside that tiny helmet." _Charmy remarked as he flew past his two friends over towards the stairs, _"But can we go home now? I'm wrecked!" _he said in a tired, whiny voice.

The shelled Mobian folded his arms behind his head as he walked forward and caught up with the young bee near the bottom of the stairs, replying _"When we find Vector and calm him down. He'd probably be just at the gate outside, right Espio?" _as he looked back and was surprised to find his chameleon friend walking over and carrying Fang's unconscious body over his back.

Mighty stopped and stared at the ninja detective in mild bewilderment as he walked past him up the stairs, replying _"Well, we better actually take him down to the police for once, instead of just leaving him here. I mean, he did try to kill us after all. And for your question, it's quite likely he is at the gate."_

"_I don't care if Vector's at the gate or on the bloody moon!" _Charmy whined as he flew over to the back of Mighty's head and sat on his shoulders, _"I'm tired of being in this stupid house…"_

"_How the heck can you still be tired, buddy?" _the armadillo cheerfully asked, as he started walking up the stairs once more, and chuckled, _"You were konked out for God knows how long."_

"…_Shut your s-sloppy face." _the young bee tiredly mumbled before he dropped off yet again on Mighty's shoulders.

_July 23__rd__, 2:03pm_

_Front Gate of Mason Mansion, Wesker Hill_

As the three detectives left the giant hole in the wall where the door used to be, Mighty held his hand over his eyes to stop the brightness of the afternoon sun from becoming too disorientating. The contrived dark clouds pouring rain from above that morning had dissipated into a clear blue sky, making the view of the town from the hilltop even more fantastic than usual. Just outside the gate, they found Vector crouching against the wall, apparently trying to hide from the ghost, but not doing a very goof job given that everyone and their mother could see his massive headphones peeking out from over the bottom of the wall. Reaching the gate, Espio turned around the corner and sarcastically asked _"So, how's our courageous leader doing?"_

Suddenly, Vector jumped off the ground, yelling in shock, as he turned around and saw his team-mates standing by the gate. Giving the chameleon an irritated glare, Vector folded his arms, saying _"Just fine, thank you very much. At least, we escaped that horrifying menace! Honestly, I nearly tired myself out gettin' away from that thing."_

Mighty raised a confused eyebrow as he asked _"What menace? The worst thing that ghost did was ask directions to the bathroom! And how are you tired?! You had no trouble outrunning a massive truck for at least ten minutes but a short run gets you knackered?!"_

"_I said 'nearly' tired," _Vector wearily replied as he waved a dismissive hand in the armadillo's direction, _"and besides that truck thing was downhill; that's completely different. Anyways, how come there's an actual ghost living in the house?"_

All eyes turned to Espio, considering that he seemed to be the only one sane enough to actually try and explain the rather…odd events occurring throughout their time in Mason Mansion. After several seconds of silence, a bitter frown creased the purple Mobian's muzzle as he shrugged and irritably replied _"I don't know, maybe it thought the mansion would be a good place for haunting. Whatever the reason, I want nothing to do with haunted houses for the time being."_

"_Ditto!" _Vector eagerly agreed as he gave Espio a thumbs-up, _"Now how's about we get this sneaky sniper delivered?" _looking towards the unconscious weasel slumped over the ninja detective's shoulder, _"And after that, we can take off for home." _And with that, the two reptiles began to walk off towards the police station when Mighty suddenly stepped in front of them.

"_Actually guys," _Mighty asked as he gently removed the snoozing Charmy from his shoulders and handed him over to the eldest detective, _"could you two stay away from the HQ for a little while? It's just I've got something very special planned…" _giving Espio a cheeky wink.

The reptilian ninja's frown became even more angered as his muzzle gained a very slight hint of red while Vector placed the sleepy bee on his own shoulders, making sure to not get the kid's prominent stinger into his back, replying _"Yeah, sure. At least, then I can check out a couple of my favourite clubs, if ya know what I mean, Espio…" _giving the furious chameleon a knowing dig as he chuckled, _"So, what time ya want us to get back home?"_

The shelled armadillo scratched his chin for a couple of seconds until he replied _"I think about half 5 would be fine. Oh, and could you bring Honey along too?"_

"_Sure we will, you lucky dog." _Vector cheekily said, much to Mighty's blushing embarrassment. He then turned around and walked off down the hill, followed by Espio, as he said _"C'mon Esp, we've got chicks to deliver and weasels to check out!"_

Espio pinched the space between his eyes as he commented _"I think you mean weasels to deliver and chicks to check out…_

"_I know what I said!" _The emerald crocodile's Brooklyn accent yelled out as the two detectives kept walking down the hill until they vanished out of sight. Mighty gave the duo a small wave before he eagerly took off in the opposite direction, heading for home. He needed all the time he could get in order to make the possible surprise, not just for Espio, but for _them…_

_July 23__rd__, 5:24pm_

_Mission Street, Emerald Coast_

"_So, let me get this straight." _Honey asked with a puzzled, yet also amused, expression on her face as she walked alongside the three detectives on the sidewalk towards a large department store, _"You," _as she pointed at Vector, _"were kidnapped and impersonated by Fang, you," _pointing at Espio next, _"got shot in the leg and then you all ran out of the house because there was a ghost in i-"_

"_We didn't all run out," _the now-awake Charmy pointed out, _"Vector was the one wh-" _when his mouth was suddenly covered by one of Vector's enormous hands. As he smiled nervously, the older detective did his best to ignore the young bee's teeth digging into his fingers in protest.

Staring on in bewilderment, Honey paused before she continued _"Anyways, all of that happened…for a lolicon collection?! What kind of weirdo even hides something like that in a giant stone block at the bottom of the basement?"_

"_Apparently," _Espio sarcastically suggested with his arms folded, _"someone similar to an idiot I know of who's taken to hiding hundreds of skin-mags somewhere in our HQ…" _glancing towards Vector with a smartass smirk appearing on his muzzle.

The crocodile pushed the gnawing bee away from his hands as he looked at Espio with embarrassed, widened-out eyes as he remarked _"I have not hidden my skin-mags under my bed! Stop asking about them, you damn perv…" _before he realized his mistake and promptly shut his trap to stop himself spilling out anymore important secrets, if there were any that could still be hidden.

Reaching the Onett Department Store, the four Mobians walked through the slightly off-timed automatic doors and entered the old building. Walking past aisles filled with merchandise of shows that went off the air long ago and stuffy, uncomfortable furniture, Honey looked around her as she commented _"You know, for a detective agency, I was expecting your HQ to be a bit more…professional, I guess."_

"_Ah, just wait 'till you see our real HQ!" _Vector gleefully pointed out with a big grin on his face, _"You'll be really surprised then." _They reached a checkout, where a very bored looking red squirrel sat, leaning on one arm as he read through a newspaper lying on the counter. The green crocodile gave a cheerful wave to the weary squirrel as he said _"Hey Ben, is Mighty still in the HQ?"_

The squirrel known as Ben's eyes glanced from the newspaper up to Vector in pure indifference, the rest of him unmoving, and tiredly replied _"Yeah, he's still here, doing God knows what…But, before you go, just remember you'll have to pay this month's rent in two weeks, in addition to the rent you forgot to pay last month."_

Vector's eyes widened out to the size of dinner plates as he froze in place with a very distressed looking expression on his face. Suddenly, he started laughing nervously as he replied _"Don't worry 'bout that; we'll have the rent…eventually." _Ben gave the croc a dismissive glare before going back to the newspaper as the three detectives and Honey passed by the counter into a small corridor.

"_You know," _the yellow feline said as she played with one of the little tufts that popped out from her fluffy muzzle, _"This is actually the first time I've ever been to your place; feels kinda surreal…so what's Mighty doing here, exactly?"_

"_Well, whatever it is, if he does 'it' right," _the eldest detective jokingly commented, _"then who knows? Maybe you'll be comin' here more often!"_

Honey glared at the very possibly insane reptile in pure confusion as she slowly asked _"Just…what do you mean by th-"_

"_Don't ask!" _Espio quickly advised, as he glared at Vector derisively, _"At least, if you want to go home tonight with needing a truckload of brain bleach…"_

"_Or, y'know, she could stay here tonight," _Vector suggested with a cheeky grin forming on his massive mouth, _"if you know what I mean…huh? Huh?" _as he softly elbowed Espio in the gut.

The purple chameleon covered his face with his hand and groaned in annoyance at this until the older reptile stopped digging him. He lowered his hand into one of his leg pockets as he said _"Well, anyhow, here we are. Welcome to our 'amazing' headquarters." _The four of them stopped in front of a small door that had _"__Chaotix Detective Agency - We take any job that pays!__" _written out on a small cardboard sign dangling from a small tack. Espio stepped forward and knocked on the door softly, saying _"Mighty, we're here. Can we come in?"_

A second or so passed when a sound that sounded suspiciously like someone falling off a stepladder rang out from the other side of the door, shortly followed by a familiar voice replying _"Just a minute! Ah…my back…Alright, it's ready. Come on in!" _Espio grabbed the door handle and tilted it, pushing the door open to enter the HQ's living room, where the four Mobians saw a heck of a surprise

_(Mood music - Hitori no Tame no Lullaby - Welcome to the NHK)_

The small table in front of the very uncomfortable couch was covered in open boxes showing off large, tasty looking pizzas of different flavours, though some of them looked slightly burnt at the edges, and a few six-packs of fizzy drinks and one four-pack of Katsuragi's Batch, much to Vector's delight. A number of DVDs looted from Espio's room and a few DreamCast games sat on top of the small box-like TV facing the couch. And finally, there was a banner hanging from the top of the ceiling next to Vector's special desk; the banner had _"Thanks for everything, guys!" _written out across it. At that moment, Mighty came into the room, wearing a very messy looking apron, and a big smile appeared on his face upon seeing his friends as he said _"Well, here it is. So…what do you think?"_

Espio tilted his head in confusion as he slowly asked _"Just…what's this all about?"_

"_It's my little surprise I was on about earlier," _the armadillo replied as he scratched the top of his pointy nose, _"It's been a month since I came here and I wanted to say thanks to you guys for…well, everything. Maybe it's a bit much but I mean it; thank you all…" _He started feeling something show up in his eye when suddenly a loud ding went off behind him. He turned around and looked towards the kitchen, then back at his friends as he said _"Sorry, just give me a sec! Help yourselves!" _waving his arm in the direction of the pizzas as he took off into the kitchen.

Honey walked into the hall just behind him and said _"You might need a little help with that, Chicky!" _Charmy flew over to one of the pizzas and helped himself to one of the larger slices of cheese pizza, gulping down as quickly as he could while rubbing little tummy in delight. Vector bent down to pull out one of the cans of Katsuragi's Batch as he opened the top of the can and chugged it down, releasing a very satisfied sigh.

Espio walked over to the hall and saw Mighty and Honey fussing around the microwave in the kitchen, saying to himself _"He is right about it being excessive…" _Hearing some kind of confused humming behind his back, the chameleon turned to see Vector leaning on the wall with a curious look on his face. Assuming that the croc was asking about what he said, Espio said _"I don't know about you, but all this, it seems like a bit too much, especially when he's only been here a month."_

A few seconds passed in silence as Charmy gobbled down more and more of the cheese pizza nearby until Vector replied _"I can't remember when he said this but Mighty said that he'd been travelling the world for seven years, right? He probably doesn't settle down for too long before taking off again…must get pretty lonely, sometimes." _before taking another big chug of his beer can.

A somewhat-guilty looked crawled onto the chameleon's face as he considered Vector's words. Suddenly, Mighty's voice exclaimed from the kitchen _"We did it!" _The three detectives looked towards the hallway, where they saw Mighty walking into the living room with a tray covered by a small towel, followed shortly after by Honey. Chuckling at the odd situation in the kitchen, the armadillo remarked _"Got 'em out just in time. Any longer and they would've been fried." _He then turned to Espio and with a slightly burnt hand, he pulled off the towel to reveal a tray of seven magnificent chilli dogs, saying _"Ta-dah! I made just for you, partner!"_

As the shelled Mobian placed an arm around Espio's neck, he stared at the deadly bowel destroyers in rage as he groaned through gritted teeth and bitterly said _"…I hate you…" _

Mighty laughed as he cheekily replied _"And I love you too, buddy!" _before leaning forward and giving the chameleon a quick peck on the cheek. As Espio's muzzle became as red as ripe tomatoes, Charmy and Vector fell to the floor in laughter while Mighty asked _"So, how's about we get this little party started?" _Everyone else except for Espio cheered in approval when the phone on Vector's desk started ringing. The five Mobians looked at the phone as the emerald crocodile got up from the ground and walked over to his beloved desk, picking the phone up from the receiver.

Vector held the phone up to his ear as he eagerly, albeit somewhat drunkenly, said _"This is the Chaotix Detective Agency, where we take anything that pays! What's up?" _Some sort of indecipherable mumbling came from the phone as the reptilian detective replied _"Yeah…there's a stolen gem at the local museum…Ya want us to take care of it?" _As the mumbling continued, the croc turned towards his team-mates and saw that Mighty's antler-ears drooped and a disappointed frown appeared on his muzzle. When the person on the other side of the call stopped talking, Vector replied _"Sorry ma'am, we're busy right now. Call us tomorrow or somethin'." _And with that, he placed the phone back on the receiver and turned to face the other four Mobians as he said _"Don't worry about it. It'll probably be less urgent. Now," _as he gleefully rubbed his hands together, _"shouldn't we be partying by now?!"_

Mighty's antler-ears perked up and his frown turned into a grateful smile as they all cheered in approval once more, even Espio to an extent, before Charmy went back to eating as much of the cheese pizza as he possible could. Vector walked over to Mighty and gave the young armadillo a small noogie, jokingly saying _"This party better be worth it, kid!" _Mighty started chuckling once more as he urged Espio to have one of the chilli dogs. Very reluctantly, the chameleon picked up one of the chilli dogs and took a small bite out of it. Though he didn't want to admit it, it was actually quite delicious but it was the aftermath that he couldn't stand…

Suddenly, he felt a horrible feeling in his stomach. As he covered his lower torso with his hands, he ran off to the bathroom, mumbling something along the lines of _"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, noooooooo!" _He opened the door and walked into the bathroom, shutting it with a tremendous force. Seconds later, a loud rumbling could be heard from the bathroom as the entire street started shaking, followed shortly after by an enormous boom, blowing the door out of its hinges as what resembled a mushroom cloud passed through the entrance to the bathroom.

Mighty scratched his head sheepishly as he remarked _"Maybe I shouldn't have cooked so many chilli dogs."_

**The End**

_**Next time of The World's Greatest Detectives - **__In an attempt to circumvent the use of performance enhancing drugs in MMAs, Vector encounters someone from his past and in his pride, he challenges this person to a fight to resolve this entire mess. Can the croc really pull it all together and actually beat the champion of Emerald Coast? Will the Chaotix actually be able to pay this month's rent? Will the author take less than 2 and a half months to finish this episode? Find out the answers in __**Episode 06 - The Karate Kroc!**_

_Message from the Author - 24/Jul/2013_

_(Thank crap, I've finally finished this episode! And it only took almost two thirds of my summer holidays!…Good God, I'm lazy! Anyhow, I realize that ending might've been a little anti-climatic, especially after what happened in the last chapter, but hey, sometimes it's fun to just subvert expectations and see how people react. And if you're curious about whether or not the sex scene from the Lawnmower Man is truly horrible, look it up. But don't come crying to me if it basically ruins 90's CGI for you, permanently!_

_And as usual, give your thoughts on not only this chapter, but Episode 05 in general. If I can make improvements to my writing style, spelling, grammar or whatever, then please tell me! And with that, I'll see you all for the rather bizarre events of Episode 06, which I actually do have some sort of plan for this time around. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and this episode! Until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	30. 06 The Karate Kroc - 1 of 5

An ocean dyed a harsh mixture of red and grey crashes off the cliffs of a ruined seaside city; buildings that once stood tall and proud have now become desolate, crumbled shadows of their former selves, the streets are covered in blood and craters from explosions and anyone who dares to live in these ruins has to put up with either the threat of the undead, the harsher factions of the military or, worst of all, a horrifying combination of the two. Despite this, there is one individual who scurries through the streets, heading for the other side of town. With a long red scarf around his neck flowing behind him and a hand tightly gripped onto the katana sheathed on his back, the person, clad almost entirely in white cloth, quickly ran across the broken roads and alleys, determined to get out of this hellhole as fast as he could.

Suddenly, a large truck burst out of one of the abandoned mini-marts and stopped right in front of the shining stranger, blocking his path supposedly. Several soldiers emerged from the back of the truck and stood in a tight line opposite the mysterious person. Taking out their rifles and aiming it at him, one of the soldiers, apparently of a higher rank given the blue beret he was wearing, shouted _"We've caught you now, Musashi. Surrender now or get shot of sight. Either way, you're finished." _Though most of his face was covered by a small white bandana, the man known as Musashi smiled in confidence as he started running once again towards the soldiers. The higher-ranked soldier yelled in response _"Fine, you asked for it. Men, FIRE!" _and instantly, the rest of his men began firing at the white warrior.

However, he weaved left and right, dodging all of the bullets with tight precision, as he pulled out a small kunai from a small cartridge hidden in his wrist and threw it in the direction of the soldiers. The kunai flew straight into the barrel of one of the soldiers' assault rifles as he pulled the trigger, causing the rifle to explode in his face. The unlucky soldier stumbled backwards and hit the truck as he fell to the floor, leaving behind a trail of blood on the black steel. As he reached the rest of the battalion, the shining shinobi jumped into the air, landing on one of the soldiers, kicking them in the air as he jumped once more over the van.

Landing on the other side, Musashi saw a large crowd of zombified people and military personnel going against each other. Far on the other side of this battle was a large bridge extending out to the other side of the cliff; in other words, the shinobi's destination. Pulled out his silver sword from his back, the ninja's grip on the blade tightened even further as he dashed through the enormous crowd, slashing zombies and soldiers left and right effortlessly. As he neared the bridge, the undead and the military began turning their attention to him as the soldiers began shooting at him and the zombies stumbling towards him with the intention of tearing him apart.

Even so, Musashi was undeterred by the heightened assaults as he continued to cut everyone to pieces, getting closer to the bridge as each and every second passed. Eventually, he reached the concrete structure, another confident smirk creasing his hidden lips as he shrugged off the last of the zombies attempting to pin him down. As he made his way across the bridge, he felt a small tremble beneath his padded feet; he looked over the edge and saw the smoke of a small explosion coming from underneath the bridge. Suddenly, the bridge started falling apart piece by piece and so, the white ninja ran as fast as he could to the other side, escaping the crumbling doom behind him.

Just as he was about to make it to the other side, the ground beneath him broke off from the cliffside and started falling towards the sea of polluted blood far down below. With all his might, Musashi ran towards the edge of the falling structure and jumped as high as he could over to the other side, reaching his hand out to grab the very edge of the cliff if he had to. However, not only did he not land on the other side, but his hand missed the edge completely, causing him to fall down to the crashing ocean waves. Just then, everything went black and a mournful tune played in the background as the words **GAME OVER **appeared in the darkness, accompanied by an annoyed exclamation of _"Aw c'mon!"_

_July 30__th__, 11:32am_

_Chaotix HQ, Onett Department Store_

"_I can not believe it!" _Mighty irritably remarked as he roughly placed his game controller on the small table in front of the couch he was sitting on, folding his arms in a pouty manner and looking away from the kill screen plastered on the old TV in front of him, _"I can never make that stupid jump! I've memorized the enemy placements, I can get the timing down but when it comes to that jump…" _before he held his naked hands in the air and groaned angrily through gritted teeth.

"_That's only because you can't do the double jump properly."_

The armadillo looked over his shoulder to find Espio leaning on the wall by Vector's desk. The chameleon, who had been watching Mighty play video games for the last hour or so due to yet another work drought, removed himself from the wall and walked over to the couch, sitting down on the uncomfortable monstrosity as he picked the controller back up from amongst the opened game cases and used ramen cups. As the pouring rain beat off the off of the HQ, he pressed the start button and the screen changed to Musashi appearing in a lovely summer forest, with no enemies about whatsoever.

He held the controller in front of Mighty as he patronisingly described _"Look, you jump," _as he held the D-Pad to the right and pressed the button to make the ninja on the screen jump to the right, _"then you let go of the D-Pad," _lifting his thumb off the D-Pad to prove his point, _"then at the last second, you push the direction you want to go and jump again." _pushing the D-Pad to the right again and pressing jump once more. On the screen, the ninja, who was in the middle of his first jump, jumped once more through the air, soaring higher than ever before. With a smug grin on his face, Espio glared at Mighty and commented _"See, baka? Not so hard, is it now?"_

"_That's ridiculous!" _Mighty said as he rubbed his forehead in total confusion, _"How was I supposed to know that? I mean, I know old games were made to assume that everyone was a genius but c'mon!" _as he held his hands in front of the television in exasperation.

Espio rolled his eyes in derision as he commented _"Baka. Don't you know that being a ninja involves coming up with 95% of all solutions as you face more and more obstacles? You have to keep persevering; otherwise, you'll never win and you'll end up like…well, Vector."_

The armadillo picked up a somewhat full ramen cup and used a small plastic fork to eat the contents as he replied _"You've been saying that every time I've screwed up this morning. Do you have any ninja games that aren't broken in some way?"_

"_They're not broken," _Espio refuted as he folded his arms in protest, _"They're tests of endurance and patience; how far one can go before giving up, which for you isn't very much. Anyone who can conquer these deadly tasks is worthy enough to call themselves a true shinobi!"_

As the ninja on the screen suddenly mumbled akin to _"I'm outta here!" _before jumping out of the screen and ending the game, Mighty stared at his so-called partner for a few seconds before smiling sarcastically and replying _"Alright, you call it tests of endurance and I'll call it terrible game design." _before Espio grabbed one of the couch pillows and threw it at him in exasperation.

Removing the pillow from his face, the shelled Mobian bent down to reset the console and remove the disc when suddenly, a strange sound that sounded awfully like something burning up went off in the kitchen behind the two, accompanied by an irritating Brooklyn exclamation of _**"ARGH! NOT AGAIN!" **_The two detectives stared in the kitchen's direction in befuddlement until Mighty silently got up and walked to the hallway.

Yawning tiredly as he scratched his head, Mighty mumbled _"What's going on?" _as he walked into the kitchen, where he saw a rather unusual sight. He found Charmy scrambling through the cupboards looking for something, but in particular, he saw Vector waving his shag-the-cook apron over the microwave on the counter, which was currently on fire. His eyes widened out in bamboozlement as he scratched his head even more, asking _"The heck?"_

Still waving his apron over the burning appliance, Vector looked at the armadillo nervously and replied _"I thought I'd try cook some of da leftovers from last week's party and well…"_ Just then, he forgot about waving the apron and let it catch fire from the microwave. _**"CRAP, CRAP, CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!" **_the crocodile yelled in shock as he ran over to the sink and ran water over the burning apron.

As Mighty stared at the odd sight, Espio walked into the room, wearily asking _"What is it now?" _before realizing just what was happening. He just stood there, barely reacting to the situation at all, for several seconds until he said _"…Right, I'm off." _before promptly turning around and walking away. The armadillo glanced in his partner's direction before deciding to follow him.

Espio walked towards the door and grabbed the handle as Mighty asked _"Off to where?"_

The chameleon glanced tiredly at the black armadillo as he sarcastically replied _"I'm off to Tokyo-3, where do you think I'm going? I'm going down to the nearest store to get another microwave. I'll be back in a few. And Vector," _heightening his voice as he leaned back to look at the kitchen, _"try not to burn the building down while I'm out." _And with that, he opened the door and passed through it, closing it after him.

While the tapping of the rain slowly came to a halt, Mighty put his hands on his hips as he sighed in exasperation, saying _"Well, someone's pretty crabby this morning…" _before turning around. He walked over to the hallway when he glanced briefly at Vector's special desk, covered to the brim with case files, folders and newspapers. He stared at the mess in thought for a few seconds until he said to himself _"They can probably take care of it themselves." _He then went to the desk and started shifting papers around as he looked for something to do. Unfortunately, anything he found consisted of either cases that had been solved ages ago that never properly got filed away or ads for showgirls and something about them coming up to your house for a special occasion.

"_Geez, I didn't think Vector was that lonely." _The shelled Mobian thought to himself as he looked over more and more of the mess, until he came across a very old looking folder, marked with the designation _**Case DL-6; 7-December-3006.**_ _"Unbelievable, he's actually that lazy that he can't even file away a case seven years old." _He pondered as he shook his head at the idea of it. He opened one of the filing cabinets next to the desk and was about to place the DL-6 file into it when he noticed a large word spread across the rest of the folder: _**UNSOLVED.**_

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Mighty placed the folder back onto the desk and with a sense of hesitation, he flipped the cover over to find a small black-and-white photo of two chameleons, both of whom bared an uncanny resemblance to Espio; the first was a female with long dreads coming down from her head and wearing a long scarf that fluttered in the breeze and the other was a male with two horns protruding out of his head, one smaller than the other, and wearing a battered old trench coat. At the bottom of the photograph was the word _**MURDERED **_scribbled out in red ink. Next to the picture was a title written _**Murderer?!**_ and below that an even smaller photograph containing a silhouette of a person with a question mark over their head, below which was written _"I've gotta clear this case. Not for me, but for da kid…"_

Mighty grabbed the edge of the page, ready to turn it over, when Vector came into the room with a singed apron, throwing it onto the couch as he said _"Hey Mighty, I don't know what you're up to but ya mind comin' to help out with da…What're ya doin'?" _as he tilted his head and stared at what the younger detective was looking at with intrigue.

The shelled Mobian instantly closed the folder and buried it under a stack of papers, pretending to shuffle them as he replied with a hint of nervousness _"J-just checking out some files. I figured there might be a paying job in here somewhere, especially since it's been ages since the last time we got paid." _He leaned up from the desk and looked at the crocodile in faux-judgement, continuing _"Plus, I don't think we've got that much money left to go around…" _The older detective scratched his head sheepishly and opened his mouth to answer when suddenl-

"_Vector!" _Charmy's voice echoed from the kitchen, and very rudely interrupted the author's lovely descriptions, I might add.

The reptilian elder placed his hands on his hips as he looked towards the kitchen and wearily yelled _"What?"_

"_The kitchen's on fire!"_

"_In a minute, Charmy!" _Vector bluntly replied before turning his head to look at Mighty. He opened his mouth yet again to reply to the armadillo's earlier statements when his eyes widened out in realization of what Charmy had just said. _"Wait…__**WHAT?!" **_he yelled before he and Mighty dashed into the kitchen to find a large majority of it had caught fire. The cupboards, the counter, even the table were all ablaze as Charmy buzzed around the smoking room wildly. Vector's jaw dropped slightly as he scratched his head in bewilderment, asking _"What the hell did you do while I was gone?"_

"_I was trying to find something to put the fire out and I found this in the cupboards," _the young bee hurriedly replied as he flew over to the reptile and handed him a small bottle filled with some kind of liquid, _"I tried to squeezed it over the microwave but then, the fire started spreading and…" _Vector looked at the small sticker of the bottle, which said in big green letters _**"Natural Oil; for the best dinners." **_

The green reptile's eyes narrowed and a very angry frown appeared on his huge jaw as he replied _"Of course the fire started spreading. __**You**__**squeezed fricking cooking oil**_ _**all over the counter, you dolt!" **_thwacking Charmy on the back of the head with the oil bottle. As the bee rubbed his head in pain, Vector sighed irritably and said _"Well, we better try get dis fire out before anyone notices…again. Today's mission Chaotix Crew: find something to put da fire out!" _pointing triumphantly towards the burning counter, the fires of which were slowly starting to spread across the ceiling.

Mighty raised an eyebrow at Vector's antics before saying _"Yeah…I'll get to that, O Great Sage of Hammyness." _taking off to the living room to find anything to douse the flames. Meanwhile, Vector went right into the bathroom nearby, followed by Charmy. The two looked around the small room to find something when Vector glanced towards the shower, a brilliant idea coming to mind. He opened the cabinet doors and pulled out the shower nozzle into the kitchen, aiming it at the flames and holding it like he was some sort of fireman.

He turned his head to look back at the bathroom as he ordered _"Hey Charmy, turn the shower on! There's something here that needs a little wash!"_

"_That was terrible!" _Mighty commented from the living room as he continued to search high and low.

"_Shaddup!" _Vector replied as Charmy flew into the shower cabinet and turned it on, prompting loads of water to shot out from the nozzle at the fire, putting it out quite quickly. _"Aw, hell yeah!" _the crocodile excitedly exclaimed, _"We're in da business now! Nothin' can go wrong now!" _And as if God felt like being a total prick that day, the water started draining out from the nozzle until it stopped completely, leaving the flames to spread once again. Vector held the nozzle up to his face in disbelief as he asked _"What the hell? Charmy, what're ya playin' at?"_

"_Nothing!" _Charmy replied as he flew out of the bathroom over to Vector, _"I think we just used up the last of the water, Must've forgotten to pay the bills again." _Just then, another load of water squirted straight into Vector's face before promptly stopping once more. Holding back a very gleeful giggle, Charmy commented _"Okay, that was the last of the water."_

Vector dropped the nozzle onto the floor as he snapped his fingers in frustration. Just then, Mighty rushed into the kitchen with a huge cushion held over his head, saying _"Don't worry guys! I've got this!" _As he ran into the burning room, his foot tripped over the shower head's rope and he fell to the ground, losing his grip on the cushion. As it flew over into the counter, Mighty helped himself up, asking to no-one in particular _"What the heck was that doing there?" _when he, Charmy and Vector took notice of the fact that the cushion had also caught fire. The aramdillo's eyes widened out as he rushed over to the burning pillow, saying to himself _"Oh, God no!" _He grabbed the cushion and tossed it out a nearby open window to his right.

As he brushed a hand over his head in relief, Vector walked over to him and annoyed asked _"Mighty, do you realize where you've just thrown that cushion?" _The tired armadillo looked at the crocodile, who was pointing in the direction of the window, which he then glanced over to find that a tree sticking just outside of the window had started to catch fire. _**"You've just thrown it into a small forest, you utter pillock!" **_the reptilian angrily answered as the fire from the tree started spreading around to the other surrounding trees.

Folding his arms and staring at the burning wood with a deadpan expression on his face, Mighty simply commented _"Oh…crap."_

_July 30__th__, 11:52am_

_Streets of Emerald Coast_

It had taken a lot longer than expected, it had taken a hell of a lot of haggling to get one of them at such a cheap price and it had taken a lot of arguing to convince that cheapskate Wes Weasel that the originally purchased microwave was really just a computer with a hole cut out on the side but finally, Espio had done what he'd set out to do and was currently walking down the soaked streets of Emerald Coast with a slightly used but definitely not burnt microwave in his arms, headed for home. _"It's a good thing that it stopped raining shortly after I left" _Espio thought to himself as he looked up towards the overcast late morning skies, _"Otherwise_, _bringing this home would've been more difficult than finding Vector a girlfriend." _as a cheeky smile appeared on his muzzle.

"_Thinking of which, I wonder how the old croc's handling that fire." _The chameleon pondered when he noticed that a fire engine was passing him by on the road, heading towards a small intersection with two roads; one going straight and the other heading to the left. A small look of worry, and yet apathy, formed on his face as he softly said to no-one in particular _"Please don't turn left…" _But wouldn't you know it; the large red van quickly turned left, leaving him to groan in exasperation as he started to run up the street, tightening his grip on the appliance.

Following the van to the best of his ability, Espio quickly reached the Onett Department Store, finding that the left side of the building was actually on fire. His eyes practically popped out of his head, his jaw slammed onto the soaked concrete and his grip on the microwave loosening slightly, the stumped chameleon froze on the spot and stared at the unbelievable sight for a few seconds until he saw his three comrades standing just outside the burning part of the building, watching the firemen come out of the engine as they prepared to put the fire out. Walking towards the three detectives, Espio confoundedly asked _"How in the name of f-"_

"_Oh, hey Espio!" _Vector cheerfully greeted, turning around and waving a hand at the baffled chameleon. When the crocodile's gaze met the somewhat rusty appliance in his friend's hands, his eyes brightened up and a happy grin formed on his face as he continued _"And ya got da microwave too! Nice, 'specially since da old one's pretty much dea-"_

"_What happened?!" _The ninja detective coldly interrupted as the look on his face changed from baffled to furious, _"I specifically told you NOT to burn the building down but you've gone and done just that!" _holding onto the microwave with one hand as he pointed to the flames above with the other.

"_We didn't!" _The older reptile protested, holding his hands in front of him defensively, _"It's just da small forest behind the HQ that we set on fire. Don't believe me?" _He then walked over to the side of the building, followed by his younger team-mates, and motioned towards the burning trees just a few feet away from the back of the building, _"Look!"_

As the fireman rushed by the four Mobians with a large fire hose, ready to put out the fire, Espio looked up at the flaming trees in pure bamboozlement as he asked _"…How did you manage that?"_

Mighty placed one hand on his hip and scratched his head with the other, smiling sheepishly as he admitted _"Well, the fire had spread when you left so I tried to beat it out with a cushion. Problem was, I tripped and threw the cushion right into the fire so I just threw it out the window, where it landed into the trees and torched the place." _As the hose blasted water onto the trees at full force, the armadillo chuckled nervously until a soot-covered Flicky flew over and pecked him on the head several times before taking off, much to Charmy's amusement.

A very irritated and weary sigh interrupted the silence and in response, the four detectives looked behind them to find a tired-looking red squirrel walk up to them. The squirrel, known to them as Ben, their landlord, simply said as he walked closer to them _"You idiots. You've really gone and done it now. It's one thing to set your kitchen on fire but it's another thing altogether to actually make it look like you've set the whole place on fire," _looking upwards at the flames being doused up above. He stopped just behind the Chaotix as he pinched the bridge of his nose, continuing _"Good job, guys. You've embarrassed me publicly and have cost me a hell of a lot of collateral damage. You wanna blow the whole city while you're at it?"_

An angered look formed on Vector's face as he walked up to his landlord and sternly said _"Look 'ere, pal. We didn't mean any of that to happen! We're not some kind of colossal screw-up that causes trouble wherever we go! This was just some kind of accident that went a little outta control!"_

"_Yeah, it was an accident," _Ben remarked, rolling his eyes disdainfully, _"but so was pouring cooking oil on the counter," _glaring angrily at Charmy, _"and throwing burning furniture out into the trees," _shifting his glance towards Mighty, _"Regardless of it being an accident, it still happened. No matter what." _Nearby, Espio folded his arms and smiled a very small, smug grin, which the squirrel quickly took note of as he looked at the chameleon and said _"Don't think you're outta this either, kid. You're arguably the only sane man on this two-bit team and you left them to deal with the fire. Just how thick are you, exactly?"_

The four detectives stared at the angered landlord quite stunned until he finally finished, clenching up his fists in frustration, _"Whatever. I should kick you out right now, but I figure no-one else'll be sorry enough to take you in. So I'll say this much; whatever money I have to pay for this, that's getting added onto this month's rent, which also includes the rent you forgot to pay last month." _The red squirrel rubbed his forehead in exasperation, closing his eyes as he said _"I'll take care of things from here. You better go out and get something that pays well enough to deal with the grand you owe me next week. 'Cause if not, you're all out on your ass." _He sighed wearily once more before taking off to the head fireman standing by the fire engine.

Vector slumped tiredly, sighing softly, as he said _"Well, we better take his advice before he kills us. C'mon, I'm sure we'll find something. We better, anyways." _He then walked away from the building, down whatever street came first, it wasn't really a big deal to him at the moment.

Watching the crocodile slump down the sidewalk, Charmy tilted his head in confusion and scratched his head, asking _"Has Vector been switched out with someone again or is he really just down?"_

"_Unfortunately Charmy, it seems to the latter this time 'round," _Espio simply replied as he placed the microwave by the store's front entrance before quickly walking towards his old friend, quickly followed by Mighty and Charmy.

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 29/July/2013_

_(Holy crap, I actually got something out in less than a week this time around! Who would've guessed? *Blows party kazoo in celebration* Anyways, I'm just as surprised as the rest of you about this, but enough about improving on my work rate for once, let's talk about the actual chapter, which could arguably be called Mood Whiplash: The Fanfic given the sudden tone shift! Yeah, there's a heck of a tonal shift, I'll admit, though I guess I wanted to try put in a bit more Reality Ensues kinda thing this time around. How well I did that will ultimately be up to you guys._

_I'd like to thank lordoftheghostking28 for contributing a number of background details to this chapter, as well as an offhand review from ages ago that inspired the whole burning microwave idea to begin with. As well as this, I'd like to celebrate the fact that not only is this my 30__th__ chapter, but I've actually gotten 60 reviews for this fanfic, which is really damn cool. So thanks one and all for your support! You lot kick ass! As usual, tell me your thoughts on this chapter and if I can make any improvements whatsoever. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and until we meet again, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


	31. 06 The Karate Kroc - 2 of 5

_July 30__th__, 12:28pm_

_Selbina Street, Emerald Coast_

Despite the weather channel going on about how the rain from this morning would eventually break into bright, blue skies during the afternoon, it seems that they were wrong yet again as a light drizzle started pouring over the streets of the large town, forming small streams of water in the gutters on the side of the road and somewhat large puddles on the sidewalk. On days like this, Mighty was sure as hell grateful to have his head being covered by his trademark red shell, though it bothered him to an extent that none of his three detective buddies had any kind of protection from the rain. As they reached the old-fashioned café at the end of the road, the hunched crocodile leading the group pushed the door open as he tiredly said to the others _"Figured we may as well get somethin' to eat first, before we start checkin' for any cases."_

Walking into the Sparkling Emerald after Espio and Charmy, Mighty eagerly strutted over to the counter as he cheerfully said _"I'll take care of ordering the food, Vector."_

"_Yeah, you do that…" _Vector very disinterestedly replied, waving a weary hand in the armadillo's direction as he slumped over to one of the window side tables, sitting on the inside as his gaze directed towards the rain hitting off the windows.

The shelled Mobian walked up to the counter and placed his hands on the top of it, leaning forward as he looked around the other side, looking for a particular feline. A puzzled expression formed on his face as he asked _"Hey Honey, you there?"_

"_She's not here," _a slightly familiar voice replied from a small window behind the counter, _"After all the work she managed to do while I was gone, I figured I'd give her a couple of weeks off so she doesn't get too stressed out." _Just then, a large yellow cat with longish brown hair, wearing a rather dirty apron with _"Don't kiss the cook; you might get rabies!" _cheerfully written out across it, came out from a door next to the small window, giving the armadillo a jolly wave as he greeted _"Morning, pal! How's it hanging?"_

A tired smile appeared on Mighty's muzzle as he lifted his hand up as a small wave and replied _"Mornin', Kyle. And I'm pretty good; I mean, alright, we nearly burnt our home down this morning but aside from that, it could be worse." _placing his hand back onto the counter as he started to chuckle softly.

Kyle raised an eyebrow as he curiously asked _"You guys burnt your house down?"_

"_**Nearly**__ burnt the place down," _Mighty emphasized, holding a finger up in the air instinctively, _"We just ended up setting a small forest on fire instead, though that got put out pretty quickly."_

"_Yeah, okay, __**nearly**__ burnt your house down," _the large cat admitted in a bewildered manner as he picked up a dirty glass from under the counter and started cleaning it with his apron, which just ended up making it dirtier, _"But still, how'd that happen?"_

Rubbing his forehead as he recalled the events of this morning, the smile running away from his face, the black Mobian answered _"Well, Vector tried to cook some leftovers about an hour ago and somehow, the microwave ended up bursting into flames. Then the whole kitchen went on fire, a cushion went on fire, I threw the cushion out to the trees…" _Kyle stopped trying to clean the glass and simply stared at Mighty in silent confusion. In response, the young detective simply rolled his eyes and said _"Look, just read Chapter 30 of and it'll make more sense…I hope."_

The huge feline simply shrugged before getting back to his epic quest of cleaning out that blasted glass, while Mighty continued _"Anyways, we ended up getting yelled at by our landlord and now, we need to get 1,000 Mobucks, which is a hell of a problem since I'm not sure if we even have twenty Mobucks, by next week to pay for both the rent and the damages or we'll be kicked out." _hunching on the counter as he finished his story.

Taking another look at the even dirtier glass, Kyle promptly gave up and tossed it into a small bin nearby as he replied _"Well, you're right on one thing; it could be worse. Anyway, don't worry if you're broke, I'll get ya guys a small meal on the house. But don't go asking for any loans from me, alright?"_

The smile returned to the armadillo's tanned muzzle but even brighter now as he stood up and said _"Thanks. But why would I even think of loaning from you?"_

"…_Well, you've got more dignity than your boss at least, I'll say that much," _the yellow Mobian replied as he walked back through the door, _"I'll get your stuff ready there." _giving the young detective a cheery thumbs-up before he vanished through the door.

And with that,Mighty turned around and walked over to the table his friends were sitting at, faintly hearing Kyle's voice order his employees about in the background. Finding that Espio and Charmy were sitting together on one side, he sat down next to Vector, saying _"Right, it'll be over here in a few. But can I ask something?"_

The three other detectives looked over in Mighty's direction, Charmy looking on curiously, Espio glancing in a half-interested manner and Vector glaring at the back of his eyesight rather wearily, as he said _"It's been about a month since that big rhino case, you know, back when more than one character talked in a paragraph? Well, back then, we got about 3,000, which we spent about half of in the first day. Vector gave us about 200 each and then saved the last 600 for shopping, bills and stuff like that. So what I wanna know is, how much of that 1,400 do we still have?"_

Mighty fished into his leg pockets and pulled out a small fiver, placing it on the table, explaining _"I spent most of my money on the party last week and spent a little more on a couple of monster movies. I'm sure had 15 Mobucks lying about but I guess I lost it somewhere." _scratching his head sheepishly as he admitted that last fact, while Espio rolled his eyes disdainfully.

Next, Charmy dug into his pockets, both in his legs and in his little orange jacket, and placed an odd-looking pile on the table. Espio's eyes widened out as he leaned forward and inspecting the pile, finding a lost button, a copper coin and somehow, one of Vector'c countless unused condom wrappers. Pretty disturbed at that last one, the chameleon sat back into his chair as he looked at the young bee in bewilderment and asked _"What happened to all your money?"_

"_I was wanderin' round town for a while a couple of weeks ago," _Charmy replied, scratching his chin with a single finger, _"and I found this guy who was sellin' a motorbike. I went up to him and asked how much it was and he said," _putting on a fake butch accent, _"'This 'ere bike's worth whatever ya got!' So I showed 'im my money and he said it was a deal."_

"_And did it work?" _The ninja detective disdainfully asked, leaning on a bored hand.

"_For a minute!" _Charmy cheerfully answered, _"But it just fell apart after about a minute and when I tried to find that guy, he was just gone completely. But it was soooooooo cool when it was working! It went all 'vroom-vroom' and 'neeeeeeaaaaawwwww'!" _as he gestured his arms to look like he was holding onto handlebars and started flying around the café, _"Or was it 'vwwwwwwooooooom'? Eh, I can't remember now but it was still awesome!" _

Just then, the crazy little bee flew right over Vector, who promptly grabbed the bee and placed him back down onto his seat as Espio put his hand into his pocket and dug out a small, very beat-up looking wallet. As the young bee folded his arms and pouted in annoyance, the chameleon opened up his wallet with a smug look on his face as if to say _"At least I actually have a wallet, unlike you poor losers!" _And much to his wide-eyed surprise, the brown wallet was completely empty save for a couple of old photos of his team and a membership card at the local Shinobi fanclub.

"_And you thought I'd be the worst at keeping money?"_ Mighty smugly asked as he folded his arms in satisfaction, _"So, just where did your money take off to?"_

The chameleon froze still for a number of seconds until he realized just what he did, to which he covered his face in shame as he replied _"I meant to only spend a small amount on a few rare Steel Shinobi DVDs in the local town market, but it seems I may've overspent on that…" _groaning irritably at that fact. Vector started to chuckle at this, when the purple reptile lowered his hand from his face and asked _"Well, what about you, Vector? Did you spend a little too much on PlayReptile mags again?"_

The crocodile abruptly stopped chuckling as he vigorously searched through his pockets for about a minute or two until he tossed out a tenner note, which had some sort of stain all over it. Mighty raised an eyebrow as he leaned forward and looked at the stained note, asking _"This is all you've got?" _before he took a sniff of it out of curiosity. Immediately, his face turned a bright shade of green and he covered his mouth with his hand, coughing into it as he sputtered _"A-and…wh-what the heck's that s-smell?!"_

"_Well, ya see," _Vector proudly replied as he sat up straight, _"I figured we'd have enough money so I gave a large chunk of it to charities. Y'know, something that any 'onest, kind-hearted detective would do." _smiling very confidently at this. He then noticed that everyone in the café, save Mighty who was trying not to spill his guts all over the checkerboard floor, stared at him in complete, utter and absolute disbelief. Rolling his eyes, the oldest detective groaned irritably as he admitted _"Fine, I spent most of it on hookers whenever you guys were outta the house."_

"_What about the stained, revolting note then?" _Espio curiously asked, glancing at his violently ill team-mate and then back at the ruined note.

"_Ya know that one week where I got dat laptop and I was cooped up in my room da whole time?" _Vector sheepishly asked to which the chameleon simply nodded, _"Well, I'd ran outta Kleenex tissues about halfway through so…" _An immensely horrified look crept up on Espio's face as he leaned back in shock, Charmy simply tilted his head in confusion and Mighty dashed off to the bathroom, bashing the door open with his shoulder. Several seconds passed until an intense vomiting noise started erupting from the bathroom.

As the vomiting went on, Espio folded his arms and took a deep breath to calm himself down before saying _"So amongst the four of us, we only have about fifteen Mobucks. In that case, what about the 600 you saved for anything else? I know you spent about half of that on the laptop, so how much do we have after that?"_

"_I spent about 150 of that on getting some shopping," _Vector replied, scratching the top side of his snout in thought, _"And then there was that self-promotion business…"_

"_Which totally backfired on us." _Espio added with a tone of annoyance in his voice, _"So let me get this straight, this," _waving his hand over the two notes and Charmy's small of junk, _"is literally all we have left?" _The silence that ensued for the next few seconds pretty much answered the chameleon's question as he proceeded to cover his face with his hand once more, sighing irritably as the vomiting from the bathroom slowly came to an end.

Mighty then came out of the bathroom, oddly enough with a newspaper in hand, and walked back over to his seat as he said _"Right, I think I'll be alright now. I'll just a truckload of brain bleach, yeah, but I'll be fine. So how much money do we have left?" _With one hand still slapped onto his face, Espio used the other to tiredly point towards the tiny pile on the table, causing Mighty to scratch his head, saying _"Well…that's not good…"_

Vector tilted his head in curiosity as he looked at the newspaper in the armadillo's hand and asked _"Why'd ya bring a newspaper outta da can? What're ya, sick or somethin'?"_

"_Says the guy that just put a 'used' note on the table in the middle of a catering establishment," _Espio bitterly pointed out, much to Vector's annoyance, as Mighty sat back down and folded out the newspaper, spreading out on the table for all to see.

"_I just finished up barfing when I saw the paper lying at the edge of the sinks and it had something pretty interesting on the front page," _Mighty replied as he rested his arms on the table and leaned forward to get a better view of thenewspaper _"so I figured I'd bring it out, just in case it gives us something to do." _Vector, Espio and Charmy leaned forward as well and read the front page article of the newspaper.

The newspaper, titled as _The Daily Reporter_, had a large bold headline spread across the top that said _**"FORMER MMA CHAMPION HOSPITALIZED!" **_The text, dated about a week or two ago, was written out as such; _"Noah Thompson, the former mixed martial arts champion of the Emerald Coast region, has been submitted into Chao Gardens Hospital with unusually severe injuries around the torso and the head. The powerful panda bear, 29, was found lying unconscious on the side of Raymond Avenue early this morning. It's unknown exactly what had happened to bring the former champion to this state but due to the unusual injuries inflicted on the Mobian, injuries far too strong for any normal man to make, it's suspected by some to be either some form of machinery that caused this or, more likely given the circumstances, by someone using performance enhancing drugs. It might be worth mentioning in some regard that the bear was expected to be fighting at the Yukes Arena in Relic Square against Ras-"_

Suddenly, Vector hastily swiped the newspaper from the table and folded it up, standing up as he opened the window and tossed the paper out into the face of a poor, unsuspecting cyclist. And with that, he sat back down and slightly stuttered _"T-that's just about everythin' we need to hear, me thinks!"_

As the cyclist crashed into a dumpster just outside the café, Espio raised an eyebrow as he folded his arms and glanced at the odd crocodile disdainfully, bewilderedly asking _"Vector, why did you just fold up the newspaper and toss it out the window?"_

"_I told ya already. We've gotten all the info we need ta know ta get things started," _Vector quickly replied as he pounded a somewhat determined fist onto the table, _"The guy was beaten up by some twat pumped up on steroids, it's as easy as that. Look, you three check out the arena and I'll go to da hospital to check on that Noah Thomson guy, whatever his name is." _as he quickly walked out of his chair and headed for the door.

Just as he was about to walk out of the café, he felt a tight grip pulling on one of his arms as Espio's voice demanded _"Hold it!" _Vector's eyes widened out and he gulped nervously as he turned his head to look at the chameleon, who glared at him with a stern look as he continued _"I don't know what's gotten you so spooked just now but I don't think you're in the right condition to be on your own."_

"_Aw, Esp. I didn't know ya cared," _Vector sarcastically commented, smiling insincerely as he tried to shrug off the ninja detective's grip, _"But don't worry, I'll be alright. I'll talk to da Noeh Thomson bloke and you three take care of the re-"_

"_If that's how you're going to be, misspelling people's names and what-not," _Espio sharply interrupted, tightening his grip on the green reptile's arm even further, _"then you're definitely not fit to question a hospitalized victim. Mighty, Charmy," _looking at his two other team-mates as he kept his grip on the crocodile, _"do you mind looking into Noah Thompson? Vector and I will take care of the arena side of things."_

"_Gotcha, partner!" _Mighty eagerly answered, giving his friend a cheerful thumbs-up and a trusting wink before turning to Charmy and saying _"C'mon, buddy. We've got work to do; to the Chao Gardens Hospital!" _pointing eagerly to the door, which he and the young bee ran through right into the pouring rain, ignoring the fact that they were probably going to end up with a cold by day's end.

"_Well, Vector?" _Espio asked as he started to loosen his grip on the croc's arm, _"At least we've something to take care of, and who knows; we might actually get paid for it."_

"_Ya know," _Vector smugly pointed out as he shrugged off his friend's grip, _"I think some of Mighty's optimism's startin' to rub off on ya. Guess you really are fond of the guy."_ placing his hands on his hips as he looked at the chameleon with a cheeky smile.

"_Yeah, right." _Espio dismissively replied, rolling his eyes at the thought as he walked over to the door and held it open for Vector, "_Anyways, we better get to the arena if we want to investigate this matter properly, don't you think?" _

Sighing irritably, the crocodile's cheeky smile morphed into a worried looking frown as he wearily replied _"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with." _walking out of the café with just as much energy as he went into it, followed by Espio, who glanced at the older detective in intrigue at whatever was going through the green Mobian's mind at the moment.

Just at that moment in the Sparkling Emerald, Kyle showed up with a large plate filled to the brim with toasted cheese sandwiches and crisps with a big smile on his fluffy face as he cheerfully said _"Well, here's the small meal you asked for!" _when he noticed that the only thing on the table were a used fiver, a pile of junk and a very smelly tenner. Scratching his fuzzy muzzle, he asked to no-one in particular _"Where'd they go off to now?" _

_July 30__th__, 1:12pm_

_Yukes Arena, Relic Square_

As the rain got even heavier, instantly turning any Mobian caught wandering outside into a big, puffy cloud of fur, a small bus arrived at the corner of the square. The doors opened, revealing Espio, now with a purple scarf around his neck with an umbrella in hand, and Vector, wearing a long green trench coat, walking down the steps out of the transport. _"Thanks for the ride," _Espio said to the driver as he stepped onto the curb, _"And keep the change." _looking back towards the man in the front seat, who gave the two detectives an eager-thumbs up before closing the doors just as Vector stepped onto the sidewalk.

As the bus started to move again down the road, the chameleon opened up the umbrella and held it above the two of them. Strangely enough, he still felt as if thousands of water droplets were hitting off his head every second and out of curiosity, he looked up to see what the problem was. That problem, as it turns out, was that the umbrella had more holes than the plot of Heavy Rain. _"I thought somethin' seemed wrong with dat thing when we went back to pick it up…" _Vector commented, scratching the top of his head with a single finger as Espio closed the umbrella back up.

"_Well, there were all the holes you could see when it was just closed," _Espio sarcastically noted as he sighed irritably at this, _"Anyhow, this is the Yukes Arena mentioned in the newspaper, it seems." _He placed his hands on his hips and looked towards the great stadium towering high above them; standing right at the edge of the sea, the steel wonder stretched out very wide, giving off a sense of great importance, or in Vector's case, a sense of unpleasant anticipation as he pulled on his collar and gulped nervously, yet again. Noticing this, the chameleon began walking alongside the crocodile towards the arena as he asked _"You've been acting very strange, or at least more so than usual, since we read that newspaper. Exactly, just what was in that article that bothered you?"_

A frown appearing on Vector's jaw, he stammered _"W-well, it's just t-that my…" _stopping all of a sudden as the younger reptile looked at him. Feeling very tense, the most Vector could muster up to say after a long period of silence was _"…You'll see when we get there…" _After this, Espio looked at the green Mobian for a second before directing his glance back towards the nearing stadium. And with that, Vector slumped forward and sighed in relief, glad that the pressure was off him…at least until they entered the large front doors of the arena, at which point he became more nervous than a teenager trying to date Rosie Palm and her five sisters for the first time.

Unexpectedly, the front room of the arena wasn't filled to the brim with loads of people scurrying about in crowds, nor were there giant banners being hoisted from the ceiling or Iron Maiden-esque rock music blaring throughout the large room. Instead there was only a small desk near the entrance, where a bored looking Overlander sat, filing her nails when she was supposed to be doing her work. Walking up to the desk, Vector placed a hand on the desk as he leaned forward and asked _"'cuse me, ma'am?"_

The woman, who had surprisingly frizzy brown hair for someone as bored-looking as she was, stopped filing her nails and looked at the green crocodile in front of her through red-rimmed glasses. Her mouth turned into a half-smile as she commented in a strange voice of sorts _"Ah, 'Razzers'. There you are; the manager's been looking everywhere for you this afternoon."_

The older reptile removed his hand from the wooden desk as he stepped back with a befuddled expression on his face. Nearby, Espio raised an invisible eyebrow and glanced at the confused crocodile as he asked _"…Razzers? Is this some new nickname of yours?"_

Vector opened his mouth to reply when the frizzy-haired woman leaned forward and stared at him, straightening her spectacles as she asked _"Did you get in an accident or something? You look kind of…less attractive," _much to Espio's amusement, even if he was still confounded about things,_ "and you're awfully quiet today. I heard your fight against that panda guy was pretty rough but I didn't think it was that bad." _The nervous detective glanced at Espio, pleading with his eyes for some kind of help, to which the chameleon simply shrugged. Taking a deep breath, Vector looked back towards the woman and opened his mouth to reply _"…Uh-"_

"_**What d'ya mean it went pretty rough?!" **_A loud, strangely familiar, voice boomed out from behind the three of them. Vector and Espio turned around to find a sight that to most normal people would be quite odd but for Espio, it was essentially his worst nightmare. Standing at the doors was a very tall crocodile, dyed a bright shade of green. Wearing a pair of black and blue shorts, leaving his chest bare to the world to witness his many small scars and toned muscles, the smirking crocodile looked unbelievably like Vector. The cheery crocodile walked over to the three others as he continued _**"I totally whooped dat guy's ass!" **_proving his point by smacking one fist right into the other.

As Espio's face turned a sickly-green from the possibility of two Vectors actually existing in this world, the second green reptile placed a hand on the desk and leaned towards the Overlander, giving her a flirty glare. Feeling her cheeks heat up, the woman nervously answered back _"S-sorry, Raz. I guess I got a little mixed up!"_

"_**A little mixed up?" **_The confident croc proudly asked before bursting out into a boisterous laugh, leaving Espio to wonder if there was something wrong with the room's acoustics or if this stranger was just naturally loud, _**"Gladys, you're really somethin' else! Just how can you get the Great Razter mixed up with someone else?"**_

Noting the familiar self-proclaiming, Espio began suspecting a certain possibility as he bitterly remarked _"…When the two of you exactly the same…" _though really, he only said that so that his would-be ears wouldn't be ruined by a voice so loud it would beat out Kyle Hebert, John DiMaggio, Stephen Fry and even Dan Green in the world's biggest ham contest.

Clearly, this idea crashed to the ground worse than the Hindenburg disaster as Razter asked _**"What d'ya mean the two of us?" **_turning to look at the two other Mobians standing next to him. Seeing the smaller crocodile glaring at him very awkwardly, Razter's eyes widened out in surprise as he asked _**"…Vector?" **_Vector's glance directed towards the floor as the taller crocodile's smirk formed into a genuine smile, exclaiming _**"Dude, it's actually you!" **_as he proceeded to give Vector an epicly manly bro-hug! As Espio attempted to blot the idea of two Vectors hugging each other out of this mind, Razter laughed joyfully as he said _**"Man, am I glad to see ya! Just how long's it been since I last saw ya?"**_

"_About seven years…" _Vector angrily replied through gritted teeth as he pushed the taller crocodile away from the manly bro-hug that, truth be told, felt more like an overenthusiastic strangling session.

The whole act seemingly going over his head, Razter proudly crossed his arms as he commented _**"Seven years?! Yikes, time really does fly by, doesn't it?" **_with his tone sounding slightly saddened near the end of his sentence.

Just then, a large man came through a door right next to desk, and when I say large, I really, _really_ mean large. The Overlander, dressed up in a very long black trench-coat and dark sunglasses, looked like the unholy lovechild of Jim Sterling and Marlon Brando, given his…girth. Placing his hands on his hips, the man glared annoyingly at Razter, though given the fact he was wearing sunglasses, he could very well have had his eyes closed, and irritably said _"Razzers! I've been searching all over the square for you; where the hell have you been?!"_

"_**Oh, I just went out for a little fresh air," **_Razter replied in a manner as if he was making a great speech to the whole universe, _**"Gotta get my lungs going for da next fight, ya know?" **_as he beat his chest proudly to prove his point. Espio derisively rolled his eyes at this; he figured exactly what was going on and if he could talk at any point, he'd suggest that they just announce it for the Vectors of the audience who didn't get it already. _**"And besides, I was just catching up with someone special;" **_and at that moment, Razter gleefully wrapped an arm around Vector and pulled him in for a little noogie, _**"My twin brother, Vector!"**_

"_Well," _Espio thought to himself, _"That was quicker than I thought…"_

**To be continued…**

_Message from the Author - 6/August/2013_

_(Well, I'm a little late with this, aren't I? Still, being a day late is better than a whole week, as with some of my most recent chapters. So, how's about we talk about the stunning reveal of Vector's brother?! I don't know if anybody expected it or guessed it as things went along like Espio did but anyhow, yes, Razter shall be a major character throughout the events of Episode 06! Isn't that exciting?!_

_I'll keep other developments on the episode at a minimum for now, but I will reveal two things about Razter; 1. His name's a pun (look up types of graphics and you'll see what I mean) and 2. I wrote him in the mindset of him being a furry hybrid of Kamina from Gurren Lagann and Aquaman from Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Outrageous!). Anyways, tell me your thoughts on this chapter and the episode so far, if I can make any improvements on my writing and anything else that comes to mind. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and until we meet again next time, have a great day y'all! - FrDougal9000)_


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